13.12.11
King’s Fund warns of lack of leadership in London
The NHS reforms will force hospitals into financial difficulty, and GPs may be unable to provide adequate leadership to implement closures, the King’s Fund has warned.
The think tank suggests that a body or structure to oversee London’s healthcare is necessary and the reforms will remove this. Currently a strategic health authority and 31 primary care trusts work together on hospital reconfiguration and the centralisation of services.
Chris Ham of the King’s Fund told the Guardian: “There is no way that [GPs] will fill the vacuum. The problems of patient safety and financial risk are too big. Therefore there is a real risk we will not go forwards but go backwards.
“The problem is the whole thing is done by default not design.”
The King’s Fund report states that family doctors “are unlikely to be able to provide the leadership required” to reconfigure hospitals. Additionally, some hospitals will not be able to become Foundation Trusts due to financial constraints, including St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said that London would not be without help: “The NHS commissioning board will have a role in shaping services across London to deliver the best possible care for patients.
“The whole point of our modernisation plans is to ensure that the doctors and nurses who work in London's hospitals and GP surgeries day in and day out are in the driving seat – they know better than anyone what services their patients need and where improvements can be made.”
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