NHS Boss To Reveal £22bn Cost-Cutting Plans

More details of how the health service will cut costs by £22bn in just five years are expected to be revealed by the NHS chief later.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has to make the efficiency savings on top of the extra £8bn a year promised by the government.

He will tell the NHS Confederation's annual conference that the books can be balanced through a revolution in health care, with more money being spent on keeping people healthy and on treating patients in GP surgeries rather than expensive hospitals.

A survey of the Confederation's members - largely NHS managers - has revealed that 71% believe the current financial pressures are the worst they have ever experienced and 91% say the problems have got worse in the last year.

An overwhelming 98% say the government needs to be straight with the public on the need to change the way the NHS provides care.

The Confederation's chief executive Rob Webster said: "The NHS continues to deliver high quality care in very challenging circumstances.

"Over the last five years rising demand has been relentless and funding limited.

"(We now need to) accelerate from talking about change to delivering real and meaningful changes to the way care is delivered.

"With the election out of the way, this will require a focus on the workforce, on prevention, on the role of innovation and new models of care."

Already health services in 29 areas of the country are testing out new models of care as part of NHS England's Five Year Forward View.

Some GP surgeries have joined forces to provide minor surgery, investigations and other services without out the high overheads of hospitals

In future hospitals could also merge with local GP practices, so one organisation efficiently meets all the health needs of local patients

And inefficient hospitals could be spared closure if they club together, sharing back office functions and perhaps even staff to save money.

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said: "I think it is extremely ambitious.

"One of the biggest anxieties is whether you can do it in five years when everybody is working very hard delivering the everyday service.

"The people who are going to do the redesign are largely the clinicians and they are busy seeing patients."