Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday unveiled the next stage of reforms of the National Health Service in an effort to create patient-centered services.
The plan will guarantee that everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 will have the legal right to a five-year NHS health check.
Under the new health system, patients will also be entitled to treatment within 18 weeks of referral by their doctors and will be able to see a pecialist within two weeks if they are suspected of having cancer.
Brown said the reforms will give power back to patients. "It is part of the move away from a target-led approach that was needed to raise standards and to give more power to patients and frontline staff," he said.