Burnham sets out NHS
vision in 'tough' times
The £15bn NHS funding gap will be tackled by local NHS organisations working towards yearly efficiency and productivity targets, the Health Secretary Andy Burnham announced today.
While stating that the government would not dictate how these savings were to be made, he warned that "where organisations are off track we will ensure they take action to hit their efficiency targets."
Addressing the King's Fund this morning, Burnham set out a programme of "radical reform" in which he outlined how the NHS would achieve savings by improving the quality of services, taking them from "good" to "great."
Acknowledging that the financial context is "tough", Burnham described successive increases in funding as "a platform of immense strength on which to build".
He also reminded his audience that primary care trust (PCT) budgets are set to grow by an average of 5.5% this year and next and warned against local managers conducting "mini spending reviews" and making "wrong judgments made on incomplete information."
In a speech that may alienate independent sector providers, previously courted by the government in its drive to reduce waiting times for elective surgery, Burnham stressed that "the NHS is our preferred provider" and that existing providers would be given the opportunity to improve the quality of the services, "before opening up to new potential providers."
The Conservatives' plan for the NHS explicitly criticises the government for missing "a golden opportunity to work in partnership with the private sector to provide better care."
Steve Barnett, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which includes independent sector providers, said: "We have concern if the suggestion is that commissioners of services would be limited in their ability to move services swiftly to alternative providers where there is clear benefit to patient care and value for money for taxpayers.
"At a time of great financial pressure on all public services it is even more important for the people who commission services to be able to choose the most appropriate provider - we will want to see much greater clarity about what this means in practice."
Delivering a speech clearly designed to appeal to voters, Burnham robustly defended the central targets that have proved unpopular with clinicians, warning that their removal by a Conservative government would lead to a loss of public accountability and postcode lotteries in which those living in least affluent areas would suffer most.
However, he acknowledged that a "more unifying approach" was needed to achieve quality.
Quality has long been the watchword of the government, since the publication of former health minister Ara Darzi's Next Stage Review in 2008.
"Currently, there is the potential for a disconnect between what the system is measuring and prioritising and what matters most to the public," admitted Burnham.
He went on to describe how the payment by results policy would be taken further, with hospitals rewarded financially for achieving high levels of patient satisfaction.
The uncompromising speech also included a pledge to empower regulator Monitor to remove the coveted Foundation Trust status from those trusts that fail to maintain standards, a promise to tackle the "perverse incentives" which prevent providers from offering care in the community and the announcement that practice boundaries will be abolished, ensuring that patients can register with a GP of their choice.
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