01.04.14
‘NHS facing its biggest challenges,’ says new boss
The NHS is facing the biggest challengesin its 66-year history thanks tothe squeeze on its budgetsandintensifying service pressures, NHS England’s new chief executive has warned.
Speaking in Newcastle on his first day in charge, Simon Stevens will say that successfully navigating the next few years, and the challenges they will pose, is going to take a team effort – “involving the biggest team in the biggest effort the NHS has ever seen”.
Stevens, who has replaced Sir David Nicholson, will also outline areas where he believes action can be taken, including measures to raise standards of care for the elderly, ensuring better working relations between health and social care, and delivering new models of care and advances in medicines.
Stevens is also expected to say “traditional partitioning of health services – GPs, hospital outpatients, A&E departments, community nurses, emergency mental health care, out of hours units, ambulance services and so on – no longer makes much sense”.
However, the 47-year-old, who started his career on the NHS Graduate Training Scheme in 1988, also praised the NHS as delivering an extremely high standard of care, despite facing such an “economically turbulent” time.
“Today we face new challenges, and will need new solutions, while holding on to the vital gains of the past. Fortunately over the years the NHS has shown a proven ability to rise to the occasion,” Stevens will add.
During his visit to the north east, the NHS England chief executive will meet patients and nurses at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Consett, County Durham.He will travel to South Shields – one of 14 new national ‘integration pioneers’–where the NHS, the council and voluntary groups are helping patients take more control of their own health.
He will conclude his tour at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle, where he will see how the NHS is supporting breakthrough medical research to find new ways of caring for patients.
Commenting on thestart of Stevens’ tenure as NHS England boss, Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The NHS in England is facing unprecedented challenges to deal with rapidly increasing demand and the challenges of an ageing society.
“Simon Stevens should focus on the NHS workforce, making sure that we have the right number of staff with the right skills in the right places to provide excellent care to all patients.”
Stevens was appointed as Sir David Nicholson’s replacement as chief executive of NHS England in October 2013 following open competition and a worldwide search. He has held a number of frontline NHS management roles, running hospitals, health authorities and community services.
From 1997 to 2004 he was also the health secretary’s policy adviser at the Department of Health, and the prime minister’s health adviser at 10 Downing Street. He then spent nine years in the USA with UnitedHealth Group.
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