30.05.14
NHS England boss calls for more local hospitals
There should be a shift away from big centralised hospitals and a move towards expanding local services to treat people in their communities, the new head of NHS England has said.
Simon Stevens, who took over from Sir David Nicholson at the beginning of April, has signalled a marked change in policy because, under the current system, many patients are not treated with “dignity and compassion”.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Stevens stated that there needs to be new models of care built around local hospitals. However, he was not suggesting a return of the1950s-style cottage hospitals.
He added that the smaller hospitals should play an important part in providing care, especially for the growing number of older patients who could be treated closer to home.
Many health services in western Europe already successfully serve their local communities without centralising everything, added Stevens. He said: “There is a big opportunity to reorganise that so it meets the needs of those at home. At the moment it is too complicated and too fragmented.”
He also stated that the NHS could learn a lot from some elderly care provided in the US, where companies had taken steps to ensure community services and hospital specialists worked as one team.
Next week, Stevens will make a speech to the NHS Confederation's conference in Liverpool, outlining new models of care to build community services around small hospitals and meet the needs of an ageing population.
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