Practices must be enabled to switch their focus to prevention of disease, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said.

In a wide-ranging speech, setting out his proposals for the NHS, Mr Javid acknowledged that primary care is currently “far too stretched.”

Personalised care that empowers patients and uses “technological leaps” is another key to radical reform of the NHS, Mr Javid said. He identified prevention, personalised care and improved performance as the areas that would help the service reduce waiting lists within its current budget. Following his speech, to the Royal College of Physicians, medical organisations continued to question whether the government recognises the extent of the workforce problems facing the service.

Mr Javid said primary care must be at the heart of prevention, recognising it is currently “far too stretched” to be proactive in this area. He said the new integrated care systems would be expected to have clear plans for prevention of serious disease. He argued that community diagnostic centres, a revolution in vaccination and “digital prevention”, through the use of apps, would help in preventing serious disease.

He said: “I know there is a sense that primary care is far too stretched to be proactive on prevention – even though it wants to. Claire Fuller is currently conducting a stocktake on how primary care networks can be supported in ICSs – and I’m looking forward to hearing her views on how we can best help primary care deliver for the communities they serve. We need a reform that works for populations and the profession alike – because primary care represents one of the very best ways of preventing and managing illness in the community. We need to make patients a 21st Century offer – and give frontline innovators the tools to deliver it.”

Dealing with personalised care, he called for a “significant expansion” in personal health budgets. There would also be a new “right to choose” for patients, he said. By the end of December people waiting for longer than 78 weeks would have been contacted to tell them where in the country they might get the fastest treatment. NHS performance, he said, would be improved by successful use of digital systems, such as the use of electronic patient records.

He claimed: “The agenda we are building will amount to a revolution in the supply-side and demand side of healthcare and a huge transfer of power and funding from the State to the individual and the family.”

British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “While the Secretary of State articulated a vision for the future, ultimately this omitted the most fundamental element of any recovery strategy which is tackling the chronic workforce shortages in the NHS. The Government must now show how it will prioritise recruitment and retention otherwise patient care will continue to suffer.“