News / Howe calls for emphasis on transformation

Sustainable health and care services will not be delivered ‘just by breathing in a lit bit harder’, health minister Lord Howe has told the HFMA annual conference in London.

The minister said the key question facing the NHS was how to promote high-quality, safe and integrated health and social care while maintaining financial sustainability. He praised the HFMA 2013 presidential theme, Knowing the business, saying he was ‘encouraged’ that the conference was focused on developing engagement between finance leaders and clinicians.

And though NHS funding would be £15bn higher in 2015/16 than in 2011/12, significant efficiency improvements would still be needed.

‘Tight financial control and governance will be more vital than ever before. I want to thank you as financial leaders for the efforts you have made. You have reported £11bn of efficiencies in the first two years – this is a huge achievement, delivered at a time of profound change.’

But he added: ‘We cannot meet the financial challenges we all face just by breathing in a little bit harder. We have got to think differently about how we deliver services. As finance leaders you have a major role to play, for example by ensuring there are robust patient-level costing data and best practice tariffs to support the redesign of patient pathways.’

Lord Howe thanked the association for the work it had done with Monitor and the Department of Health on pricing and costing and with Sir Bruce Keogh on seven-day services.

He said the £3.8bn integration transformation fund would help local services change. ‘Seven-day services will provide services when you want care. They will be centred on individual needs, rather than what the system happens to want to provide. They will drive down the costs to the acute sector by tackling the pressure points in the system, like A&E and reducing unplanned admissions.

Lord Howe was asked whether politicians would support transformation initiatives that involved the closure of NHS facilities, particularly with a general election in just over a year. He replied that he hoped this would be the case. ‘I would like to believe that ministers will put their heads above the parapets – we have got to grasp the nettle,’ he said.

He was ‘well aware’ of the difficulty such statements could hold for local MPs. But he added: ‘These discussions must take place. I hope I will play my part, as will my colleagues in the Department.’