Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has defended the coalition government's market reforms for the NHS, announcing that they are simply a follow up to old Labour policies.

By introducing NHS 'quality standards' across 150 clinical areas, the government hopes to improve patient care and reduce waiting times. According to Management in Practice, standards for dementia, blood clot and stroke services have already been published.

Speaking at the BMA's annual conference this week, Mr Lansley announced plans that could see patients choosing where they would like to be treated, urging GP's to support such moves.

Nevertheless, according to The Financial Times, many GP's have spoken out against the government's reforms, saying that such a policy would increase competition between hospitals and trusts. However, Mr Lansley hopes that patient choice will bolster performance in an ailing NHS, encouraging higher standards across the board, saying: ''[GP's] are clear about the nature of competitive options to them for referral.''

NHS reforms could see those from nurse manager jobs to social work assistant positions striving to improve care quality, to ensure their sector is the most competitive.

Health experts argue that whilst the plans for more patient choice seem promising, more must be done to educate the public on their rights. Carol Propper, Professor of Economics at Imperial College was cited in The Financial Times as saying: ''The problem is that it is family doctors who initiate choice and a good number of GP's do not believe their patients want or need it.... Mr Lansley is going to have to do much more to make patients aware of their rights.''