NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens unveiled a two-year blueprint to boost cancer care, improve access to GPs and slash waits in A&E
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens unveiled a two-year blueprint to boost cancer care, improve access to GPs and slash waits in A&E.
But he admitted funding was “very tight” and millions of patients could have to wait even longer for operations like hip and knee replacements.
The NHS is currently suffering the worst waiting times in its history.
Record numbers of overburdened staff are quitting and overstretched hospitals are on the brink of collapse.
"But without giving the NHS the money it desperately needs, Theresa May is conning patients who won’t get the standards of care they expect.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health bodies, also suggested the plan was a “leap in the dark” considering the service’s “difficult financial position”.
And Britain’s most senior doctor, Mark Porter, warned it “did not address fundamental funding pressures”.
Dr Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, added: “The efficiency targets set in this plan are fanciful, given that most hospitals have been pushed into the red.”
Mr Stevens admitted he expected waiting times to rise slightly as a “trade-off” for improvement in other areas, such as hitting the four-hour A&E target and better cancer care.
The NHS has a target that 92% of patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral by their GP. But it has not been hit since February 2016.
Mr Stevens said: “We expect that the number of operations that the NHS pays for will continue to go up, but we recognise that – right now about nine out of 10 people get their operations in under 18 weeks – in some parts of the country that will be under pressure.”
He also said hundreds of thousands of patients would no longer be referred to a consultant by their GP.
Instead, family doctors will be able to phone consultants for advice, while other measures will be put in place to cut the number of people needing to be sent to hospital for care.
Hospitals will also be told part of their funding will be tied to improving general health, with staff encouraged to have a “quiet word” with patients who drink or smoke too much.
Measures previously announced to save the NHS cash include cutting the prescriptions bill for sunscreen, gluten-free foods and travel vaccines.
Mr Stevens declined to say “anything new” on whether he was happy with NHS funding. In January, he told MPs it would be “stretching it” to say the health service got more money than it asked for from ministers.
Critics last night raised concerns about longer waiting times and how the NHS plan could be delivered.
Clare Marx, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “We risk returning to the days of unacceptably long waits for elective surgical treatment.”
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, added: “Having to wait a long time for an operation or procedure may not only condemn an older person to misery and pain, it can also undermine their resilience and make it harder for them to sustain their independence.”
But last night the Government claimed the NHS was getting better because it had invested £10billion.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “This plan sets out how the NHS will meet the challenges of an ageing population head on and deliver further improvements for patients.”
What the plan actually means
CancerHealth chiefs vowed their plan will mean an extra 5,000 Brits will survive cancer every year.
Expanded screening will improve prevention and early detection of the disease, they added.
This includes the introduction of a new bowel cancer screening test for over four million people from April 2018.
They also plan to implement the “largest radiotherapy upgrade programme in 15 years” with £130million being spent on new or upgraded equipment.
And 10 new Rapid Diagnostic and Assessment Centres will be introduced across England aiming to boost early diagnosis.
Everyone who has symptoms of cancer will find out whether they have the disease or not within a maximum of 28 days.
VERDICT: Dr Nicola Strickland, president of The Royal College of Radiologists, said there was a “lack of detail about delivery”.
She added: “The idea of Rapid Diagnostic and Assessment Centres is admirable, but this is very unlikely to lead to patients getting their test results any sooner.
“There are already almost a quarter of a million patients waiting over a month for the results of scans in the UK due to a severe shortage of radiologists.”
General practice
The NHS plan says everyone will have access to the option of evening and weekend GP appointments in their area by March 2019.
Culled from Mirror
