Finance a bigger worry than reform for NHS chiefs
pharmafile | March 9, 2011 | News story | | Acute Trusts, NHS, NHS Confederation, NHS finances, NHS reforms
NHS leaders are more concerned with how they are going to balance the books this year than with the reorganisation of the health service.
A survey of NHS Confederation members found balancing finances and making cost savings to be the most important issue they expected to face in 2011, and not the massive health service reform programme.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the majority of acute Trusts, said the results of its poll “should set the alarm bells ringing”.
Acting chief executive Nigel Edwards said: “They show that while the Westminster village is focusing on NHS reform, finance is the issue keeping NHS chairs and chief executives awake at night.
Edwards said he was worried that there may be a significant finance problem coming down the track.
“We are already picking up worrying signals from a number of hospitals and primary care trusts about significant money pressures emerging, and this is before the very challenging rigours of next year’s tight financial settlement,” he said.
The NHS Confederation asked its members to list in order what will be the three issues of greatest importance to their work during the year from January 2011 conducted the survey.
The data showed 63% thought balancing finances and making cost savings would be one of their top three issues, with 31% saying this would be the most important area, the highest percentages by some margin.
In comparison, just under a third said that understanding the government’s NHS reforms would be one of their top three issues, with only 13% saying this would be the most important area.
In addition around half (46%) said that that understanding and supporting GP commissioning would be one of their top three issues, with 13% saying this would be their most important area.
The survey, carried out in January 2011 by the Picker Institute Europe, covered 279 senior healthcare managers with nearly all of who were chairs and chief executives of NHS trusts.
The Confederation said that financial matters would have risen up the agenda of NHS leaders over the past 18 months because of the need to make £20 billion in efficiency savings by 2015, the so-called Nicholson Challenge.
At the same time, it must reduce management costs by 45% and implement one of the biggest reform programmes in NHS history.
The Confederation has warned that these pressures mean 2011 will be an “incredibly tough year” for the NHS.
Edwards added that both the reforms and the financial pressures were a “mammoth agenda” and the dangers of distraction “were obvious”.
“We need to make sure we don’t take our eye off the ball on providing high quality services for patients as we go through what will be a really tricky period.
“We have got to do everything possible to eke out genuine efficiencies rather than simply shrinking services,” he concluded.
This echoes a recent report by a group of influential MPs who said the government’s reform programme had caused “wide spread uncertainty” at a time when the government should be focusing on meeting efficiency challenges.
Ben Adams
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