The year ahead and beyond
Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation; Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund; and Angela Greately, chair of Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust discussed with delegates how NHS organisations need to respond to the many challenges they face in the coming years.
In his opening words, Chris Ham stressed the need for action on all levels on QIPP; he stated that leaders needed to manage the duality of responding and preparing for the coalition government’s plans as well as focusing on implementing the good work done to date on the QIPP agenda.
Angela Greately focused on the behaviours the NHS needs to have to face the challenges and called for greater partnerships and relationship building across the health service stating that these were critical. Nigel Edwards reflecting on the conference over the last two days highlighted the opportunity NHS leaders have to shape the transition of new policies and plans and stated that it was important for NHS organisations to show real courage in their local plans.
Audience members were asked to share their views on the key NHS challenges ahead and discussion focused on a range of issues including GP commissioning, autonomy and working relationships.
GP commissioning
The panel reiterated the need for the NHS to focus on how it can make GP commissioning work. Empowering GPs and ensuring that they build on the past experience of practice based commissioning was discussed as an important role for NHS organisations and the need to begin conversations with GPs immediately was highlighted. The transition to this new system of commissioning was raised as a concern and the importance of clear accountability and an authorisation regime for GP commissioning consortium was emphasised.
Autonomy
How to create a truly autonomous independent board was discussed and it was noted that it would require a significant cultural change for politicians. Healthcare is historically a policy area that had gained political attention and it is likely to be difficult to remove interference entirely.
Working relationships
Panel members and delegates alike agreed that there was a need to break down barriers, align incentives and change systems to improve better working relationships between disciplines and sectors.
In the area of mental health this was particularly highlighted and it was agreed we should think about the differentials in this area and consider the opportunities that could be achieved through breaking down divides. It was noted that unified care is what really matters to patients and this will be vital to achieving more with less.
One audience member stressed that there was a real need for NHS organisations to encourage each other, to acknowledge the hard work they are doing and use this to focus on what lies ahead.
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