06.01.10
NHS faces ‘greatest ever’ challenge, warns NHS Confederation
Launching the NHS Confederation's breifing 'dealing with the downturn' using the evidence, NHS Confederation acting chief executive Nigel Edwards said there was no silver bullet to allow the NHS to make all the savings it needed.
The NHS Confederation has warned that the NHS needs to rise to its greatest ever challenge if it is to navigate the current financial crisis.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the report, Dealing with the Downturn: using the evidence, at the NHS Confederation Annual Conference in Liverpool today (Weds 23 June) the organisation’s director of policy, and acting chief executive, Nigel Edwards said it would be a mistake to believe that there was a ‘silver bullet,’ which would allow the NHS to find all the savings it needed.
“The NHS today is facing the greatest ever challenge to the way it works and the way it cares for patients - now is the time for everyone working in our health service to rise to the challenge of providing improvements in care while also working more efficiently,” he said.
“An aging population, changing lifestyles and the rising costs of healthcare are placing greater demands on services, which are themselves costing more and more to provide.
“But there are reasons for optimism. There are some significant areas like redesign of care, improvements in long term management and work to ensure patients get the right treatment first time, rather than having repeat visits with the same problem, which hold out the hope that we can do things better but for less.”
The report follows on from the NHS Confederation’s publication at its conference last year which set out the scale of the financial challenge facing the NHS. In the first Dealing with the Downturn report, the Confederation said rising costs of healthcare and other factors meant the health service would have to find between £15-20bn in savings over the next four years.
Today’s study considers the likely areas where savings could be found in the health service and looks at the possible usefulness of initiatives like moving care closer to home, improving the management of long term conditions, reducing variation in clinical practice and looking for strategic mergers.
During his speech to the NHS Confederation conference today, Nigel Edwards will say: “Each of these areas offer great potential for savings, but the paper concludes that although releasing cashable savings is possible, very significant ambition and leadership is required, careful planning is necessary, and there must be a rigorous focus on evidence.
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