NHS plan must be realistic, says NHS Providers

A new briefing – Five tests for the NHS long-term plan – calls for the NHS long-term plan, due to be published later in the year, to be ambitious but realistic. It argues that recent years’ missed performance targets and financial deficits have arisen despite trusts treating more patients than ever before and realising higher levels of efficiency savings than the economy as a whole.

It warns that setting trusts an unrealistic task locks them into a ‘debilitating cycle of failure’ damaging staff morale and the reputation of the NHS. The plans should recognise the reality of a provider deficit of nearly £1bn in 2017/18, current underperformance against constitutional targets, an ageing infrastructure and an overall staff vacancy rate of 8%.

The briefing also argues the funding uplift announced before the summer – an average 3.4% in real terms per year for five years – is not the end of the story. The success of the new plan would also depend on addressing the funding crisis in social care and investing in public health.

And it calls on the government to make the right decisions on capital spending – to modernise and renew buildings and technology – and funding for staff training. It would also have to secure a good Brexit deal that protects the NHS and invest in more integrated models of care.

NHS Providers has set five tests that the long-term plan must pass to ‘put the NHS back on the path to success’. It should:

•   be centred around patients, service users, carers and families
•   be realistic and deliverable
•   be underpinned by a credible and sustainable workforce strategy
•    lay the groundwork for a sustainable high-performing service
•    support local good governance, autonomy and accountability

Its chief executive Chris Hopson said the plan provided a great opportunity to adapt and improve the NHS, but that the challenges should not be underestimated

‘The plan must confront the reality of growing demand for treatment as a result of our older, growing population and the increasing number of people living with long term conditions,’ he said. ‘We must have a plan that honestly sets out how we will work together as a health and care system to cope with this demand.’

He argued that providers were ambitious for the NHS and had delivered deficit reductions while also pioneering new approaches to care and system working. ‘But the plan must also reset what is asked of providers so that the vast majority of trusts, performing well, can return to being successful in delivering the care that patients and the public rightly expect,’ he added.