Ian
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pm | | Re: NHS Savings (6th Dec 12 at 12:11pm UTC) | | Not very well
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Not-very-well-.html?soid=1102665899193&aid=rUarpwTSekw
On his NHS Managers blog, commentator Roy Lilley responds to the autumn statement. The lack of economic growth, he writes, means there will be less to spend on the health service. He explains:
If the 'post-growth era' is a reality, we have a problem.
Up to 2015 the NHS is bouncing between flat-line funding and at least 4% growth in demand. The gap, the so-called Nicholson Challenge, means £20bn of cost savings must be conjured to keep going. I can't hear the money rattllng in the tin, can you? The big question; what happens after 2015?
Nil, or poor economic growth means the certainty of more flat line funding for the NHS. Against the inexorable background of compounding 4% growth in demand, the NHS is heading into unchartered territory. Richard Douglas, DH Director of Policy, Strategy and Finance is talking about the possibility of £50bn savings being the reality.
If true it means redefining the NHS. An NHS where expectant Mums pay for their maternity services because being pregnant is a condition and the NHS only does illness and accidents. It means an NHS that only does B&B in hospital because that dumps the overhead costs of the catering staff and equipment. It means an NHS where nurses pay for their own uniforms and an NHS where everyone pays for their prescriptions. An NHS where a 20% pay cut through re-grading is put-up-with-it-or-go.
If you think I am exaggerating take a look at what is happening in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and even Germany. Systems under pressure; shrinking entitlements and access. | |
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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pm | | Re: NHS Savings (14th Feb 13 at 10:45pm UTC) | | http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/13-02-14/Third_of_NHS_finance_chiefs_fear_care_quality_is_worsening.aspx
Third of NHS finance chiefs fear care quality is worsening PharmaTimes - Selina McKee
Concerns over the quality of health and social care are growing as the NHS continues to grapple with tightening budgets and rising demand, a survey of finance directors by The King's Fund suggests.
The survey, part of the King's Fund Quarterly Monitoring Report, found that a third of finance directors believe the quality of NHS care in their area has deteriorated over the past 12 months, compared with just about one in six in the previous survey, while almost half of directors of adult social services said the quality of services they commissioned had worsened.
According to the think tank, significant challenges currently being faced include meeting the 18-week referral-to-treatment goal as well as waiting times targets in accident and emergency (A&E) care.
The proportion of patients waiting longer than four hours in A&E departments is at its highest level for this quarter since 2003/4, and a quarter of all providers recording breaches of the target in the quarter to december 2012, it notes.
And on the financial side, while most NHS organisations are on track to meet targets pressures are growing. The report, which assesses how well the NHS is coping as it tries to achieve the £20-billion savings target on the one hand and incorporate healthcare reforms on the other, suggests the financial squeeze is beginning to "bite hard".
Two-thirds of NHS finance directors - up from around a half in the September 2012 survey - and nearly three-quarters of directors of adult social services are pessimistic about the financial outlook for 2013, and the service's ability to cope wit the rising pressures.
Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, says the findings of the survey reinforce what its members have been saying for some time.
"Despite huge efforts to maintain standards of care and finances, NHS leaders are increasingly concerned about the pressures mounting on their organisations and the knock on impact of reductions in funding for local government services," he stressed.
Long-term focus
"We need to look beyond short term solutions that balance the books and examine how we can transform the way we deliver care so that it provides the best outcomes for people, in a way that is fully sustainable in the long term", or the ability to maintain standards of care will be threatened.
According to farer, "for sustainable effective change, we must take the bull by the horns and produce whole-system solutions across the wider care system".
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the survey "provides clear evidence that England’s health and care system is heading in the wrong direction".
"Standards of care are deteriorating in many parts of the country as the NHS is dragged down by a toxic mix of cuts and re-organisation," he noted, and warned of a "growing crisis in emergency care".
He called on ministers to "urgently wake up to these warnings and ensure there are enough staff on the ground across the NHS to provide safe care". | |
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Ian
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