Healthcare regulation in the UK: part two performance, conduct and health

In 2000, the UK Government published the NHS (National Health Service) Plan, an ambitious ten year programme promising to deliver a patient-centred service, more healthcare professionals and other resources, and greater redress for patients who perceive their treatment within the NHS to be substandard. These strands, higher standards of healthcare with a more consumerist patient focus and greater accountability, have given rise to the creation of new bodies setting standards, auditing performance, developing greater patient participation in the national and local health care agenda plus complete revamping of the regulatory bodies and the establishment of a new umbrella body to regulate the regulators.