Health minister John Hutton has responded to last week's Audit Commission report on equipment services by promising that standards will be 'driven up' and highlighting investment already promised for hearing aid and wheelchair services. NHS Confederation chief executive Stephen Thornton said managers wanted to end the 'postcode lottery of care'. He questioned whether the government was making equipment services 'another priority for the NHS' when it was already facing a huge change agenda, and added that 'if everything is a priority then nothing becomes a priority'.