Health Secretary’s annual report on the NHS and public health published

The Secretary of State's annual report has been published today, a year earlier than is required by law, in order to enable Parliament and the public to see the direction the NHS is heading. From 1 April 2013, the Secretary of State for Health will be under a new duty to produce the annual report relating to the performance of the health service in England, which will be laid before Parliament. The Health Secretary's annual report will be the principal method by which Parliament will hold the Health Secretary to account for the performance of the health service in England.

The National Health Service and Public Health Service in England: Secretary of State's Annual Report 2011/2012 covers a wide range of achievements from across the health service,  including:

• 96 per cent of patients spending less than 4 hours waiting in A&E
• 212 clinical commissioning groups on their way to being authorised by January next year
• 12,500 patients helped to access the cancer drugs previously denied them.
• £400 million invested to complete the roll out of the improving access to physcological therapies (IAPT)
• MRSA infections down 24.7 per cent and C difficile infections down 17 per cent, the lowest levels since mandatory surveillance began.