NHS organisations can be a powerful force for good in regenerating local communities, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said today. She urged them to take account of tackling deprivation when reconfiguring local services.

The Health Secretary told leading public health experts that the NHS should seek to make a real difference to the local economy and local community - and help tackle wider health inequalities - when it makes decisions about how health and social care services are configured.

Speaking at the UK Public Health Association's annual public health forum in Telford, Patricia Hewitt said:

"If you live on a low income you are more likely to have worse health and to die younger. And too often, our most deprived communities with the greatest health needs have the worst services.

"The Government is determined to tackle these health inequalities. The White Paper shows how we will move towards a health service focused on prevention as much as cure, and increasingly shift away from hospital care to community based services. As we do this, the NHS has a historic opportunity to become an agent for regeneration and renewal. In many areas, the NHS is the major local employer and a major customer for local suppliers. Decisions about the location of buildings, equipment and services, can be a major contributor towards the regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods.

"Therefore, I will be insisting that from now on the NHS takes account of the impact of reconfiguration of services on the local economy and local communities. We will reviewing our guidance to the NHS to ensure that when a new hospital or health centre is proposed, a key factor in the decision making process will be the benefit to the local community in terms of creating employment, buying goods from local suppliers, designing new buildings that save energy and are pleasant places to work and visit, and providing sustainable transport policies.

" Current guidance to the NHS and Overview and Scrutiny Committees on reconfiguration is available in the Overview and Scrutiny of Health Guidance published in July 2003. it advises NHS organisations when consulting on significant changes to consider:

-- changes in accessibility of services

-- the impact of the proposal on the wider community

-- patients affected

-- methods of service delivery

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