The health secretary will insist on quality being unaffected by the government's reforms The government is expected to confirm it is to push ahead with big structural changes to the NHS in England.
Primary Care Trusts are to be abolished and, from 2013, family doctors will plan hospital care and manage the budgets to pay for it. Hospitals will also be warned their funding could be docked if patients are forced to share mixed-sex wards.
Doctors have suggested dozens of ways the NHS in England can save money and improve care.
Despite recent criticism from doctors, nurses and patients groups over changes to the way the NHS is run, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will indicate he wants to press ahead with his reform programme when he gives his response to the public consultation on the government's plans.
Mr Lansley will outline the priorities for NHS trusts in England for the next year - and that will include a pledge to cut hospitals' funding from next April if patients are forced to share mixed sex wards.
Labour ministers floated the same idea almost two years ago - and still mixed sex wards proved to be stubbornly persistent.
But the main message from Mr Lansley will be that quality must not slip as the reforms to the NHS are pushed through.
Funding for Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 will also be revealed, the last year they will receive a full allocation of money before the reforms begin.
It is widely expected within the health service that PCTs will get a very small increase in their budgets.
That may not reduce the financial pressure on hospitals, which have seen their payment for treatments frozen this financial year.
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End Quote Hugo Mascie-Taylor NHS ConfederationThere are huge challenges facing the health service but what is heartening about this report is that there are ways both to save money and improve the care we provide to people”
If the prices paid to hospitals, known as the tariff, do not keep pace with inflation they will continue to be at the sharp end of finding savings in the NHS.
It would increase the pressure to move some types of care out of hospitals and into the community. At the same time a new report by the think tank Civitas says abolishing PCTs in one go - a key part of the government's reorganisation of the NHS in England - could damage patient care.
Civitas says getting rid of the trusts could cause delays to treatment and calls for a more "incremental approach" to reform.
Doctors and surgeons have also contributed ideas to help the NHS save money, with suggestions including making changes to policies on discharging patients, cutting surgical equipment waste and not doing unnecessary procedures
Taken seriously
For example many hospitals have different policies on discharging patients which can mean some people stay in longer than is necessary, leading to extra costs.
Surgeons have pointed out that the scare over CJD infection has led to expensive surgical equipment being thrown away after just one use.
The report says the rules used to prevent infection from instruments is not based on reliable evidence.
The report was published by the NHS Confederation, which represents around 95% of the organisations that make up the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
NHS Confederation clinical director Hugo Mascie-Taylor said expert suggestions like these need to be taken seriously.
"There are huge challenges facing the health service but what is heartening about this report is that there are ways both to save money and improve the care we provide to people.
"This is the start of an important debate and these ideas need to be considered carefully. The NHS treats millions of people a year and does so with care and professionalism but there are always ways to improve, to do things better and to reduce waste at the same time."
The report comes as the NHS in England faces increasing financial pressures, not least the need to make up to £20bn in efficiency savings over the next four years.
On Tuesday the Commons Health Select Committee said meeting that target would test the NHS to the limit.
The reforms do not affect the health service in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are devolved to their national administrations.
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