Quotes by Andrew Lansley

“The governments current approach is a U-turn on previous policy and its application is riddled with flaws.”

“The government has done too little too late to protect the health of the population -- in June 2004 I told the government to produce a comprehensive strategy,”

“This is ridiculous. It shows that GPs are having to engage far more in satisfying local bureaucracies rather than their patients. This is yet more evidence of doctors being under pressure to live in this bogus world of targets met and targets set, when from the patients point of view the service hasnt improved.”

“NICE should be in charge of implementing any guidelines, not the government.”

“I think the Government is trying to cover up its own negligence by blaming GPs and that is a disgrace.”

“It is unacceptable that out of the most developed countries, Britain was one of the last to order anti-viral agents and publish an emergency preparedness plan.”

“Many clinical priorities arent recorded and some targets, like A&E and GP bookings, create more problems than they solve,”

“Many clinical priorities arent recorded and some targets, like A&E and GP bookings, create more problems than they solve.”

“What is really going on is the Treasury is in a funk about PFI schemes worth £7bn to £9bn that are being proposed by the NHS.”

“In reality, weve had more spending, more bureaucracy, more waste and higher costs but without necessary reform nor rising productivity.”

Jamie Oliver, quite rightly, was talking about trying to improve the diet of children in schools and improving school meals, but the net effect was the number of children eating school meals in many of these places didnt go up, it went down.

I think we have to understand that sugar is an essential component of food its just that sugar in excess is an inappropriate and unhelpful diet.

The vast majority of people who speak to me say they have had brilliant care. When they are critical, their concern tends not to be directed at the medical side but the ancillary things that surround it, such as helping patients to eat meals, cleanliness, and making sure that when patients have a problem, they are listened to.

We have to treat smoking as a major public health issue. We have to reduce the extent to which young people start smoking, and one of the issues is the extent to which display of cigarettes and brands does draw young people into smoking in the first place.

In the first speech I delivered as health secretary, I made one thing perfectly clear: we need a cultural shift in the NHS: from a culture responsive mainly to orders from the top down to one responsive to patients, in which patient safety is put first.

We will empower patients as well as health professionals. We will disempower the hierarchy and bureaucracy.

We must not constantly talk about tackling obesity and warning people about the negative consequences of obesity. Instead we must be positive - positive about the fun and benefits to be had from healthy living, trying to get rid of peoples excuses for being obese by tackling the issue in a positive way.