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NHS must be radically reformed and simplified if £20 billion funding boost is to work, warn two ex health ministers

'Simply putting money into the NHS won't work' warned Lord Prior  - Dominic Lipinski 
'Simply putting money into the NHS won't work' warned Lord Prior - Dominic Lipinski

The NHS must be radically reformed and simplified if Theresa May’s £20 billion funding boost is to make a difference to patients, two former health ministers have said.

Lord Prior, Chairman of UCL Hospital and former Tory health minister and Lord Darzi, NHS surgeon and former Labour health minister, said health and social care must be amalgamated, to save costs and prevent too many people becoming ‘stuck in NHS beds.’

Announcing the increased funding this weekend, Mrs May warned that if the NHS does not become more efficient funding increases will be ‘swallowed up before they reach the frontline’ and said she would ‘hold NHS leaders to account.’

Lord Darzi, said: “The proposed increase in NHS funding is very welcome but must be accompanied by a serious plan for reform. NHS staff are trapped working in a fractured system that is in desperate need of radical simplification.”

Last week in a report for the IPPR the former ministers called for the establishment of 10 new Health and Care Authorities to replace the 195 CCGs and five NHS England regions.

Lord Prior added: “Simply putting more money in the NHS and hoping for the best will not work.

“We need a shift from ‘diagnose and treat’ to ‘predict and prevent’. Care must be joined up around, and tailored to, the patient.”

NHS funding | Average annual real change in UK public spending on health
NHS funding | Average annual real change in UK public spending on health

Figures released last year showed that the NHS is also currently wasting millions by not centralising procurement of everyday items, such as rubber gloves.

Hospitals in England paid between 35p and £16.47 for the same single pack of 12 rubber gloves – a 47-fold difference, Jeremy Hunt disclosed, while a box of 100 plasters cost one trust £1.68 and another £21.76 – 13 times more.

Some trusts are spending £3,669 on a hip implant, while others opt for cheaper devices for just £761.

To improve clinical quality and efficiency, NHS England commissioned Professor Tim Briggs to carry out review of services across the country to find ways to streamline services and standardise care.

The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently looking into 35 medical and surgical specialities with 41 clinicians touring hospitals to look at the variations in treatment, length of hospital stay and costs.

NHS funding | How should it raise more money?
NHS funding | How should it raise more money?

Prof Briggs said: “We have squeezed out variation and complication and we are now making significant savings. We are seeing reductions in everyday readmission rates, length of stay, infections rates and reductions in costs.

“We have also seen a significant reduction in litigation costs. We can really change things. We have stopped surgeons doing occasional complex work which leads to bad outcomes and pushes up costs of implants.”

However The Nuffield Trust said that hospitals were often caught between two policies, one to source locally, another to keep down costs.

Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said: “Cuts to the NHS have caused havoc and clinicians find themselves in a ‘busyness trap’ where they would like to make things more efficient, but simply don’t have the time.

“For this money to work it needs to take some of the admin off staff, and allow them to do their jobs properly.”

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) also said funding for doctors was vital if the £20 billion boost was to make a real change and called for more clerical staff and social prescribers to prevent GPs becoming bogged down in paperwork and non-medical issues.

NHS at 70 - Average weekly cost of care
NHS at 70 - Average weekly cost of care

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the RCGP, said: “More GPs are still leaving the profession than entering it - and a key reason for that is untenable workload, and this needs to be addressed, or else other efforts to keep general practice sustainable are a non-starter.”

Charities including the MS Society and Macmillan Cancer Support called a properly funded care system and earlier diagnosis.

Genevieve Edwards, Director of External Relations at the MS Society, added: “A sustainable plan for the NHS must include a properly funded social care system which works for both older and disabled people - including those with MS - who are being denied essential care. 

“This means making concrete changes, including investing in a bold and ambitious workforce strategy to ensure the NHS has the doctors, nurses and other professionals it needs for the future."

Macmillan Cancer Support’s chief executive Lynda Thomas said:  “Any new plan for funding must surely tackle the vacancies and unwarranted variation in nursing posts that means in some areas there are 15 vacancies per 100 filled roles for specialist chemotherapy nurses."

British Red Cross Chief Executive Mike Adamson called for reform of elderly care to prevent frail older people who live along ‘falling into crisis.’

“Routine home inspections could flag basic steps that would prevent dangerous falls and repeat admittance to hospital,” he added.