Moscow, Feb 11 (Sputnik) The ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic has made reforming the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) “more, not less, urgent,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday.
Hancock spoke in parliament as he unveiled a new white paper that sets out proposed legislation that would see the government take greater control over the state health service in order to establish greater integration between medical and social care services.
“The pandemic has made the changes in this white paper more, not less, urgent,” the health secretary said.
The proposed changes would also see the NHS place greater emphasis on tackling obesity, bureaucracy, and health inequalities, improving oral health, and giving patients greater choice.
The health secretary has also proposed replacing Public Health England with a new body, named the National Institute for Health Protection.
Government ministers in the United Kingdom have faced criticism over their handling of the coronavirus disease pandemic. The country currently has the world’s fifth-highest COVID-19 death toll, as more than 114,000 people have died within 28 days of a positive test for the disease, according to government data
