NHS leaders say hospital use must be scaled back
pharmafile | January 3, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
The NHS Confederation says the government must convince people to let go of the ‘outdated hospital-or-bust’ model of care.
Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, says that the health service must shift resources into community-based services, early intervention and self-care – whilst shifting focus away from hospitals.
The Confederation, which represents NHS managers, believes that around a quarter of patients in hospital beds could be looked after by NHS staff at home.
This comes as MPs warn that many hospitals in England – especially in London – are struggling financially, and may need to close due to mounting debts.
This could lead to a number of hospitals needing to merge or have services cut back.
Farrar said: “We have had a lot of talk about changing services, but 2012 must be the year we convert talk into action. It feels like the focus is on everything but the thing that would make most difference.
“Hospitals play a vital role, but we do rely on them for some services that could be provided elsewhere. We should be concentrating on reducing hospital stays where this is right for patients, shifting resources into community services, raising standards of general practice, and promoting early intervention and self-care.
“There is a value-for-money argument for doing this, but it not just about money and the public need to be told that. This is about building an NHS for the future.”
He added that there would be opportunities to improve safety through consolidation of specialist services.
His remedy on how to meet this challenge is by changing how health services are paid for: “Perverse incentives often mean it may not make financial sense to provide care out of hospital even though this may be best for patients,” he said.
Farrar added that the government must also listen to the public: “[The] NHS must always listen and be prepared to change course when it is getting something wrong”.
Hospital care is one of the biggest costs for the NHS, and health service managers are under pressure to make considerable savings.
The government’s QIPP programme is looking to save £5 billion a year until 2015, with just under half of this expected to come from hospitals.
Farrar says the economic situation in Europe and the UK suggests that the age of austerity will now go on even longer, making the need to move patients away from using hospitals more urgent.
He also warns that the ongoing reform of the NHS, which will create a new management structure across the service, is a ‘distraction’ to the imminent financial and care-related problems the NHS is facing.
Ben Adams
