News / Flory urges future focus

NHS Trust Development Authority chief executive David Flory has called on finance professionals to put more focus on the future as part of their efforts to deliver high-quality, sustainable services.

Addressing the HFMA annual conference, Mr Flory said they should look at three areas. ‘We need to spend more time and focus on the future. The planning framework will set a time frame of five years and it is important we get it right in that time frame. I get a sense that we are spending more time than we can afford disputing invoices or working out how we can implement a fines regime for underperformance. Yes we need to do those things, but not at the expense of sustainability in the future,’ he said.

For his second point, he said the planning discussions should address what local providers should stop doing. More had to be spent expanding the workforce. Trusts put into special measures after being inspected by NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh were hiring additional doctors and nurses.

It was inevitable that less would be spent elsewhere ‘Commissioners have to take the lead,’ he said, adding: ‘One of the messages I took from the Francis report was if you can't provide a service properly, then don't provide it.’

Mr Flory called for a bigger debate nationally on the provision of specialised services and continuing care. ‘We know how difficult this is, as the paediatric cardiac care experience tells us. We should be doing this in a way that takes the public with us and gets the backing of our politicians.’

The challenge faced by the NHS was tougher than he had seen, but he was positive about the future. ‘We are raising the bar at a time when we have less money to operate. It would be easy to say, “Hold on a minute, something’s got to give”. But I believe we can rise to the challenge; to raise the quality bar at the same time as managing more efficiently and effectively the money available to do it.

‘We are going to have to work harder and more closely together and we are going to need all the political backing we can get. I am confident as it is happening in some parts of the country,’ he added.