20.06.12
NHS financial position ‘worst ever’, health chiefs fear
The NHS has been compared to a “supertanker heading for an iceberg”, as health service leaders gather in Manchester for the NHS Confederation annual conference and exhibition.
250 chairs and chief executives at the conference, which opens today, were asked about how they were coping with restricted finances and how they predicted future care to be affected.
Nearly two-thirds said that patient care was already affected and one in three said that patients were waiting longer for treatment. 17% suggested that the availability of drugs and treatments had diminished and looking a year in the future this rose to one in three concerned.
More than eight out of ten believe that finances could worsen in the next year and the biggest challenge of the next decade was identified as caring for an increasingly elderly population.
Almost half forecasted a decline in patient care at a national level. More than one in four described the financial position as “the worst they had ever experienced” and nearly half said the situation was “very serious”.
Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation (pictured), told the Press Association: “Despite huge efforts to maintain standards of patient care in the current financial year, healthcare leaders are deeply concerned about the storm clouds that are gathering around the NHS.
“Frankly, without action on the way we provide health and social care, the NHS looks like a supertanker heading for an iceberg. The danger is clearly in view and looming ever larger. We know what needs to happen. But are we going to be able to take the assertive action needed in time?”
He called for public support for planned change to services and for politicians to put long-term interests of their population’s health above their “short-term electoral interests”.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley, whose keynote speech is at 1.15pm today, insisted the NHS was “performing extremely well for patients” but added: “The NHS needs to change to match the needs of a changing population. We will not shy away from difficult decisions involved in that.”
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