The NHS Confederation last week published a letter to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to urge the Government to provide political will
and financial backing to secure the future of hard pressed NHS services.
This was co-signed by 50 leaders in healthcare, including me.
The publication of the letter coincided with a major speech
from Mr Cameron (link) and Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens (link).
The overarching themes from these speeches was further commitment
to implement the Five Year Forward View, making a 7-day NHS a reality, greater
focus on healthy lifestyles and prevention and treating mental health with
equal importance as physical health. The Government has pledged to
provide the NHS with an additional £8 billion in funding by 2020, but this is in the
context of the NHS still needing to find £22 billion in efficiency savings.
The level of change and challenge facing the NHS will
continue to be significant, but we now have a clear sense of direction and
purpose at a national level, guided by the Five Year Forward View. On a
more regional level, Greater Manchester is progressing plans for the devolution
of health and social care from central government to the city region.
At a Trust level, Pennine Care continues to be a high
performer in terms of both quality and finance. However, we still need to
achieve £47.5 million in efficiency savings over the next five years to
contribute to the overall NHS target of £22 billion. This will be tough at
times but we must ensure that the care and safety of our patients and the
wellbeing of our staff are at the forefront of any changes we make. We
are now engaging with our staff widely on developing plans for the future and I
would encourage all of you to get involved.
I would encourage
you to read these when you can as it will help to give you a sense of direction for the NHS over the next five years. We will of course provide regular updates about how these changes will impact our frontline staff as it becomes clear.
Thank you
Michael
