11.04.14
Healthcare changes in NHS must be ‘accelerated’ – Monitor
The pace of change in healthcare delivery to patients in England must be accelerated if the NHS is to realistically seize the opportunity to improve care, Monitor has said.
In its corporate strategy for 2014-17, the regulator stated that commissioners and providers on the front line must deliver the change, but be “allowed” and “encouraged” to develop new models of care provision that are needed at a local level.
During the next three years, Monitor says its strategy will help the whole healthcare sector redesign itself. This includes integrating access to care around the needs of patients; breaking down traditional barriers between providers; doing less in hospitals and more in the community; and inventing new models of hospital care.
The 2014-17 strategy will be driven by four core responsibilities including making sure public providers are well led; ensuring essential NHS services are maintained; certify the NHS payment system promotes quality and efficiency; and guarantee procurement, choice and competition operate in the best interests of patients.
David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, said: “If the NHS is to continue to deliver the universal health service to which we are all committed it needs to turbo-charge changes in the way healthcare is delivered to patients.
“In the short term that means improving quality and efficiency across the board so that all providers meet the standards of the best. And in the medium term it means redesigning how care is delivered, including inventing new models of care, so that we can provide quality care, with compassion, and make the money available to the NHS go as far as possible.”
The strategy paper adds that “change and innovation require that local decision-makers are granted the freedom to get on and do their jobs”. However, at a time when there is increasing attention being paid to the quality of care and when resources are scarce Monitor must actively play its part in reducing the risk that failings go uncorrected for any significant period.
Therefore, Monitor is changing its approach to monitoring providers in order to minimise the burden it imposes whilst also seeking to spot emerging problems as early as possible and to step in swiftly when it does so.
Commenting on Monitor’s strategy for 2014-17, Matt Tee, chief operating officer at the NHS Confederation, said: “We have previously voiced our concern about how proactive the NHS is when it comes to dealing with failure. The NHS Confederation welcomes the risk-based approach to regulation Monitor is taking so that it better supports organisations that are in danger of failing.
“Provided that regulators such as Monitor are willing to support organisations before they reach a crisis, we will have a better chance of rising to the challenges facing the whole system.”
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