The NHS will begin to make immediate efficiency savings by tackling escalating management costs in order to meet the increasing demands on NHS services, according to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. He also announced changes to the use of targets in the NHS, including removal of targets around access to GP care, removal of the 18 weeks referral to treatment target and a reduction of the 4 hour A&E target threshold from 98 per cent to 95 per cent.
The overall reduction in management costs by 2013/14 will be £850m, which is a 46 per cent reduction on the 2009/10 management costs. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “NHS spending will increase, but so too will the demand on NHS services. In order to meet this demand, the NHS needs to make substantial savings and that is why I want to see immediate action this year to reduce management costs so that the savings made can be reinvested in NHS care for patients.
“Management costs in Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities have increased by over £1bn since 2002/03, with over £220m of the increase taking place during 2009/10.
“Management costs now stand at £1.85bn and it’s our intention that during 2010/11 we will remove all the management costs that have been additionally incurred during 2009/10, to get back to the level of 2008/09. Then in subsequent years, we will go beyond that, with a further £350m reduction in 2011/12. “
Andrew Lansley added:
“I want to free the NHS from bureaucracy and targets that have no clinical justification and move to an NHS which measures its performance on patient outcomes. Doctors will be free to focus on the outcomes that matter – providing quality patient care.
“But I want to be clear – while the NHS will no longer be accountable to ministers or the Department for its performance in these areas, it will be very much accountable to the patients and public it serves. Patients will still be entitled to rights under the NHS Constitution and the quality of their experiences and outcomes are what will drive improvements in the future. We expect providers to continue to make improvements, for example on referral to treatment times, and to provide this information to patients themselves, driving choice and competition in the NHS.”
