News / STPs are a means to an end, says Stevens

18 October 2017

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In a hearing on the work of NHS England and NHS Improvement, the NHS England chief executive said joining-up care was effective. Highlighting data published in March, he said that in primary and acute care systems (PACS) sites, where hospitals, GPs and community services are integrated, the number of emergency bed days was 0.1% higher than in 2014/15. For the rest of England it was 1.8% higher.Simon Stevens

Committee chair Sarah Wollaston asked about the feeling that STP plans were being kept secret, while managers were fearful of sharing plans with the public and elected representatives.

Mr Stevens (pictured) said politicians should be more supportive and acknowledge the difficult financial environment in the NHS. ‘I will put one way in which you could be supportive of the processes that are happening locally.'

'Given the difficulty of sometimes balancing budgets, it is not a solution simply to say no to everything that everybody ever comes up with, because they do have an obligation to live within the funds that Parliament collectively has provided. We all understand how difficult that is.’

NHS Improvement chief executive Jim Mackey, who also appeared before the committee, said early engagement with the public was key to the success of transformation plans.

He added: ‘Our most troubled systems generally have a system problem that has existed for a very long time, and virtually nobody disagrees that there is a problem. What they all disagree on is what the solution is. As Simon said, when anybody suggests a solution, if the person who suggested it then gets flattened and caught up in a massive political mess, we are just going to drive that down.’

MPs raised the question of whether the two organisations should be merged. Both chief executives said their organisations were always looking to reduce overheads. They were working together closely in some areas, such as the South-West of England. However, a full merger would require legislation and this was unlikely in the near future.