ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the news that health minister, Lord Darzi, has published the interim report of his NHS review.

Party response: Conservative

Andrew Lansley, shadow health minister, said: "The hints Lord Darzi has given today about his plans for the NHS sound extremely ominous. We already know about the huge upheaval and loss of local services there's likely to be in London; now we learn that something similar will happen in every single region. 

"Lord Darzi is tripping over himself to say there isn't another big, top-down reorganisation of the NHS coming; unfortunately he has only heightened suspicion that that's exactly what this is. 

"Today's announcement sounds all too much like a sweetener to prepare us for a set of proposals next month that the government knows people will find very hard to swallow. 

"Labour has spent the last 11 years pushing through top-down reorganisations of the NHS that neither patients nor staff wanted.  If they really cared about the wishes of local communities, then why has Darzi called for a big top-down restructuring of GP services in London, pushing GPs into big impersonal polyclinics, and why has Gordon Brown now decided to roll this out in every part of the country? 

"Darzi's plans focus too much on structures and don't provide solid evidence for change.  We value our local NHS services and don't want to lose them. Labour seem completely out-of-touch with that feeling."

Party response: Liberal Democrat

Norman Lamb, health spokesperson, said: "These pledges are nothing more than vacuous spin.

"This document talks about change being locally led, yet the government has already ordered all primary care trusts to open a polyclinic, regardless of any local need for one.

"No amount of desperate dressing-up can conceal the fact that the forthcoming Darzi report is set to ride roughshod over the wishes and needs of many local areas."

Stakeholder response: Which?

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Clare Corbett, health campaigner, said: "Lord Darzi’s report last October confirmed our own findings – that patients lack any real clout in the NHS.

"Although the proposals are still in their early stages, it's great to see Lord Darzi promise that patients' views and experiences will be used to improve standards and services.

"Our research shows that most patients don't raise issues about their care because they don't think it will make a difference, so we look forward to seeing concrete proposals that mean patients' views will finally count."