It was another good week for vaccine news, with a hope that spring could see the country start to return more towards normality. But many parts of the country will face continuing significant restrictions post lockdown.
There may be a general malaise around Covid, but there is blue sky on the horizon
NHS England and NHS Improvement have unveiled plans on the future of integrated care systems (ICSs), including proposals that could see the abolition of clinical commissioning groups by April 2022.
An extra £3bn in 2021/22 to help the NHS recover from the impact of Covid-19 was confirmed in this week’s spending review, which also gave a green light to NHS pay rises amid a more general pay pause for other public sector workers.
The government was not prepared for the demand for personal protective equipment during the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, relying on a stockpile that proved inadequate, according to the National Audit Office.
This week had the country looking forward to the promise of effective vaccines and back at imperfect procurement of personal protective equipment. But there remained a focus on the here and now including what to do post-lockdown and the continued shortfall in performance of the all-important contact tracing system.
The HFMA has welcomed plans to reform the VAT refund system, which would enable NHS bodies to reclaim tax incurred delivering all non-business activities, but has raised concerns about the potential financial impact for individual organisations.
The mental health investment standard (MHIS) aims to drive commissioners’ investment in mental health services at a faster rate than their overall increase in allocation. But it is an issue that frequently divides local health economies, where ‘commissioners just don’t understand’ and ‘providers just don’t get it’.
Most organisations struggle with a coherent enterprise-wide contracts management strategy. The management of contracts tends to be devolved to a procurement department function. Challenges with resources on capacity and capability, as well as lack of digital infrastructure, expose the organisation to increased risk, loss of income, wasted opportunities and promotes silo-working.
The highest standards of transparency and documentation were not always evident during the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the National Audit Office.
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