NHS reforms

NHS must remove whole services to save money - FTN

The NHS needs wholesale reconfiguration to achieve cost savings, the Foundation Trust Network (FTN) suggests. Longer term contracts would also provide more stability for providers and scope for longer term planning.

Sue Slipman, chief executive of the FTN, said: “The FTN is concerned that the system is forcing providers to take short term actions because they are not being given the freedom and flexibility they need to get resources, including staff, in the right place, so inefficiencies remain.

“For a number of foundation trusts, the challenge is bigger than a single organisation can solve alone as a radical re-think about how patients progress through the healthcare system is needed and then services reconfigured to make a streamlined service work efficiently for the benefit of patients and the bottom line.

“Many of the financial challenges faced by FTs cannot be solved by a single organisation working alone. They require strategic thinking across the system about the way that services should be provided. The financial challenge requires demand to be taken out of hospitals with greater provision in community settings. All commentators agree that doing more with less needs to be aligned with doing it in different settings and that this is in the interests of good clinical care for patients.”

The FTN suggests that strategic decisions must be made and delivered quickly to save money and trouble for foundation trusts. Longer term contracts would allow planning for the future instead of year by year with short term contracts.

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