'IT'S good to be back - with a renewed mandate for investment and reform in the NHS and with a very clear instruction from the British people to deliver real improvements within the NHS.

At the General Election there was a clear choice on offer: between putting public services first or putting tax cuts first. The public chose public services.

As you all know, Mrs Thatcher featured prominently in the campaign. Ironically, the result of that election campaign has laid to rest the dogma that public sector investment is somehow bad for Britain. That dogma left a legacy of under-investment in our key public services. In transport, in education, above all else in health. The result of the General Election is the clearest signal that the country has moved on.

People today recognise that if we are to have a fair society where everyone in our communities - and not just some - get a fair chance to succeed, then we must build strong public services to set alongside a strong economy. There can be no such thing as a fair society - or a strong economy - if the education system is geared to success for some but not for all. There is no such thing as a fair society or a strong economy if whole communities are laid waste by the ravages of drugs and crime. Above all else, we cannot have a fair society or a strong economy if health care denies people help when they need it.

These are the public's priorities. They are the Government's priorities for this second term. And at the top of the public's hopes for change - and top of their concerns too - is the National Health Service.

It is important to recognise that the debate on the NHS has moved on. For years, it was all about the need for more investment since, for decades, the NHS had suffered under-investment. Today, we are putting that right. With funding growing at twice the rate of the past, the NHS is now the fastest-growing health service of any major country in Europe.

We know what needs to be done and we have the plans to make it happen. Our priority for this Parliament is simple. It is not an avalanche of new initiatives. It is delivery. To deliver the NHS Plan.

It is reform that is the key to the improvements that we want to unlock in the NHS.

Reform in the NHS is not about abandoning the principles of the NHS. It is not about privatising NHS services. It is not about sidelining NHS staff. Above all else it is about empowering frontline NHS services and liberating the talents of frontline NHS staff.

Four years ago, GPs controlled just 15 per cent of the NHS budget through the fundholding scheme. Today, the GPs, nurses and the local communities who run primary care groups and trusts, control 50 per cent. By 2004, they will control 75 per cent.

Government alone cannot change the NHS - real and visible improvement to patient care is only happening because NHS staff make it happen. I have heard from too many people too often in the NHS that resources have not been getting through to the front line. Now, NHS staff will be given the power, resources and responsibility to reform the NHS for themselves."

The Darlington MP identified four key areas where progress will need to be focussed.

"First, on the conditions with the greatest clinical priority - cancer and heart disease and services for the elderly and those with mental illness. These will be our top priorities for investment and reform."

Other priority areas are primary care, emergency care and cutting waiting times, the Health Secretary added.