01.09.14
Increase public funding for health and social care – National Voices
The next government must guarantee a five year settlement for health and social care, with real terms increases in public funding, according to a new report from National Voices.
The report, ‘Person Centred Care 2020: Dos and Don’ts for the Next Government’, argues that services are increasingly fragmented and under-funded with too little voice for patients and families and that fully involving people in decisions is the key to improvement.
National Voices believes the government should be supporting local efforts that personalise and coordinate services, particularly for people with chronic conditions and disabilities, with public agencies, voluntary groups and local communities working together.
Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of National Voices, said: “There is a growing consensus about what great care looks like and how to achieve it, but progress is too slow. We want to see genuinely person centred care by 2020. Lots of things are needed for this, but above all a different attitude. Healthcare reform has been dominated by politics, economics, and professional and organisational priorities. We want to see reform starting with people – with the pattern of services driven by what matters to patients, carers and communities.”
The report sets out six areas of focus for improvement:
- Target public health
- Make people the priority, not the system
- Support people with chronic conditions and disabilities
- Create people-powered services
- Fund health and care properly
- No more top-down reorganisations
Top-down reorganisations are referred to as “distracting” and “wasteful” in the report. This echoes a recent report from The King’s Fund which also called for an end to top-down interference in the NHS.
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