Unions, charities and medics’ groups voice concerns over NHS blueprint

By Jane Kirby30th March 2017News EnglandBusiness / Funding / Finance, Care Standards, Finance, Hospitals, News England, NHS

Unions, charities and medics’ groups have raised concerns about longer waiting times and a shortfall in funding as the head of the NHS mapped out its short-term future.

Patients will face longer waits for non-urgent operations, NHS England chief executive Simon Steven said, and the Royal College of Surgeons has expressed concern, saying the 18-week wait target has been “jettisoned in all but name”.

Clare Marx, president of the College, welcomed some of the initiatives set down in the two-year blueprint for the NHS, but said there was a risk of returning to the days of “unacceptably long waits”.

She said: “Some of the initiatives announced today will help with the pressures on planned operations.

“It is absolutely right to look at how beds in hospitals can be made available by supporting patients to receive care and support in the community.

“Patients value and need timely access to planned surgery, like hip and knee replacements, to relieve pain and discomfort, and to maximise the benefits of treatment.

“Alongside a lack of hospital beds and rationing of procedures to save money, today’s announcement means more patients will wait longer and in more pain before planned surgery.

“We risk returning to the days of unacceptably long waits for elective surgical treatment.”

Chris Hopson, NHS Providers chief executive, said of the document: “The plan reinforces a simple, stark, truth: that you get what you pay for.

“Trusts will do all they can to transform and realise efficiencies as quickly as possible.

“But if NHS funding increases fall way behind demand and cost increases, NHS services inevitably deteriorate. That is clearly now happening.”

Mark Porter, council chairman for the British Medical Association, said: “The NHS is at breaking point from a combination of increasing demand and inadequate resources.

“Achieving one delivery promise only by missing another is a textbook example of rationing access to care. It should not be happening in today’s NHS.

“The NHS, and its expert and professional staff, are working hard under extreme pressure, but fundamentally the failure to meet the access promises is a direct consequence of the Government’s decision to allocate less resources to the NHS than other leading European countries.”

And shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Reading between the lines this plan confirms that Theresa May’s Government has broken its promise by failing to give the NHS the funding it needs.

“Sadly Jeremy Hunt has no plan whatsoever to help the NHS through the challenge of Brexit and is being enormously complacent about the impact for the NHS.

“The Government need to be much clearer about how they will guarantee there are enough staff in place in the health service to keep patients safe for the years to come.”

Nuffield Trust chief executive, Nigel Edwards, said: “Today’s plan is an important outline of the historic changes now needed across the NHS – from working more closely with local authorities to reduce pressure on hospital beds, to making better use of land and property.

But he said the “funding situation casts a shadow over this plan”, adding: “This will be the leanest decade in the NHS’s history, and the financial year starting in 2018 will see a cut in per-person funding.”

Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund, said: “Hospitals are now under pressure all year round and so the ambition to improve A&E performance and other key services within the current budget is extremely ambitious.

“Getting back on track in delivering key targets for patient care and balancing budgets are huge challenges.

“With almost no growth in the NHS budget from next year, the Government will need to revisit the NHS funding settlement to deliver the commitments set out in this plan.”

Rehana Azam, GMB national secretary for public services, said: “Care is being rationed for one reason alone – the NHS is being starved of resources by the Government.

“Reducing standards is a mark of shame and a shocking admission of failure for ministers who came to power promising to cut the deficit, not the NHS.”

Dr Nicola Strickland, president of the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), said: “We applaud the ambition of these updated plans, but remain saddened by the lack of detail about delivery.

“In short, these are delivery plans that are still failing to deliver.”

Lynda Thomas, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We are very pleased, on behalf of cancer patients and their families, that NHS England has made cancer care a priority.”

While Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Having to wait a long time for an operation or procedure may not only condemn an older person to misery and pain, it can also undermine their resilience and make it harder for them to sustain their independence.

“This makes no economic sense as well as being deeply distressing for older people and their families. It is important that preventative care is improved so older people can stay fit and well for as long as possible.”