The Health and Social Care Secretary, , will set out his ambition to
ensure every pound of taxpayer’s money is well spent in the
health and care system when speaking at the NHS Confed Expo today
(June 15).
Speaking in Liverpool, he will use his speech to discuss the need
for the strongest health and social care leadership and better
partnerships between health and care services as he looks to the
year ahead.
Over the next three years, the Health and Care Levy will see a
record £39 billion of additional funding invested in the health
and care sector to help reduce waiting times and ease pressures
on the workforce so they can deliver for patients. Progress is
already being made with hundreds of thousands of patients
receiving vital care more quickly through over 90 new Community
Diagnostics Centres (CDCs) to provide easier access to tests
closer to home, delivering over 1 million additional checks
already, and providing patients with earlier diagnoses.
Good progress is being made on cutting waiting times - the number
of people on the longest waits has halved in the past four
months. This is a direct result of our plan to tackle the Covid
backlogs and the hard work of staff on the frontline.
Speaking to an audience of NHS professionals, the Health and
Social Care Secretary will talk about the power of partnerships–
taking learnings from the pandemic to strengthen ways of working
between different health and care services and drive down waiting
times. For example, South London Health and Community Partnership
– a unique partnership of three mental health trusts - has been
able to bring out of area patients down by a third and
re-admissions down by two thirds.
The Health and Social Care Secretary is expected to say:
“It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about listening
to the innovators already doing incredible things within the
system – then giving them a platform to do it.
“There are also some 50 acute trust collaboratives and mixed
collaborative, bringing together acute, specialist, mental health
and community providers.
“They’ve already shown that when we partner like this,
challenges that appear intractable in one place can be resolved
in another.”
He will reflect on work already underway to tackle the Covid
backlog, improve social care and narrow health inequalities. He
will set out what the government will deliver over the next year,
including a Digital Health and Care Plan, Health Disparities
White Paper, 10-year plans on cancer, dementia, and mental
health, a reset of the NHS Long Term Plan and a Health Education
England workforce framework followed by the NHS’s first-ever
15-year workforce strategy.
Looking ahead, the Health and Social Care Secretary is expected
to say:
“I’ve been determined we keep moving forward, because this
moment in time we dare not lose.
“It’s a moment when we can combine valuable lessons from the
pandemic, with incredible new technology and innovative ways of
working, which when taken together, help us face the challenges
of the future.
“It’s a small window of time where we can make a big
difference.”
On leadership, he will reflect on the findings from General Sir
Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard’sreview into health and
social care leadership published last week. The review found
various examples of exceptional leadership in difficult
circumstances. However, it also highlighted reports of poor
behaviour, bullying and discrimination in certain parts of the
health and social care system. Employing great leadership at the
top will help to take burden off NHS staff, allowing staff to
focus on providing care for patients and bringing down waiting
lists.
Discussing the review, the Health and Social Care Secretary is
expected to say:
“Just as Gordon and Linda found that bad behaviour was
contagious, they found that great leadership was contagious too.
It works best when everyone – even those without leader in their
job description – feels like a leader.
“Other recommendations around training, standards and
management will support this effort – helping the workforce at
all levels, by creating the conditions for everyone to
thrive.”
The government is ensuring the NHS has the necessary tools to
boost its workforce and is able to use data to tackle the Covid
backlog. The NHS resource budget will increase to over £160
billion in 2024 to 2025 on top of £5.9 billion of capital
investment to support diagnostics, technology, and elective
recovery.
Innovative ways of working have already been adopted – community
diagnostic centres have delivered more than a million checks and
scans closer to patients’ homes, saving staff and patients time
while delivering the highest standard of care. This is backed by
record investment from the Health and Care Levy, with over £39
billion invested over the next three years.
