News / Calls for faster reform on allocation

NHS England could speed up the transformation of care delivery by accelerating the pace of change of commissioning groups to their target allocations.

So says a King’s Fund report, Improving the allocation of health resources in England, in which the think-tank urged NHS England to use its current review of resource allocation methodology to make radical changes. Looking at the history of allocations, the report said commissioners furthest away from their resource allocation target tended to be given the largest differential uplifts when large amounts of extra funds were going into the NHS. Even those over target would be given above-inflation rises. But in tougher economic times, all bodies tend to be given a flat-rate increase, whether they are above or below their target allocation.

King’s Fund senior fellow David Buck, one of the report’s co- authors, said this gave commissioners in over-funded areas little incentive to support changes to a more efficient model of care or to take difficult disinvestment decisions.

‘Giving the decision to NHS England takes some of the national politics out of it,’ he said. ‘Maybe it allows NHS England to allow the pace of change to move more quickly than in the past.’

The review should not be rushed, he said, but be given the space to examine how resource allocation policy could be aligned with the service’s desired outcomes.

Mr Buck added: ‘NHS England’s review is an opportunity for a much-needed debate about what we hope to achieve through that funding in future.’