King's Fund urges Government to be ‘honest’ over NHS
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 12 July 2016 07:41
- Written by News Editor
- Hits: 3237
A report by The King’s Fund has called on politicians to be honest with the public about what the NHS can realistically achieve within its budget. Senior policy adviser Helen McKenna said: “It is no longer credible to argue that the NHS can continue to meet increasing demand for services, deliver current standards of care and stay within budget.”
The analysis carried out for the briefing shows that NHS providers and commissioners recorded an aggregate deficit of £1.85 billion in 2015/16, a threefold increase on the previous year and the biggest deficit in NHS history. This is despite stringent financial controls and short-term measures implemented by the government and NHS bodies to reduce costs.
The briefing argues that the extent of overspending makes it clear that the deficit is not down to mismanagement in individual organisations but is a systemic problem, with the NHS no longer able to meet rising demand for services and maintain standards of care with the budget is has been allocated. It warns that cuts in staffing and reductions in the quality of patient care are inevitable if restoring financial balance is the government’s top priority.
Looking to the future, the briefing argues that the NHS can improve productivity by improving clinical practice and reducing waste, although this cannot be achieved at the pace or scale needed to meet the target of delivering £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21. It also highlights the risks to the NHS following the UK’s vote to leave the EU and warns that the political and economic instability following the Brexit vote are likely to add to the financial pressures the NHS faces.
Helen McKenna, Senior Policy Adviser at The King’s Fund and one of the authors of the report, said: “Politicians need to be honest with the public about what the NHS can offer with the funding allocated to it. It is no longer credible to argue that the NHS can continue to meet increasing demand for services, deliver current standards of care and stay within its budget. This is widely understood within the NHS and now needs to be debated with the public. There are no easy choices, but it would be disastrous to adopt a mindset that fails to acknowledge the serious state of the NHS in England today. We are drawing attention to these issues now while there is still time to have an informed and honest debate about the best way of sustaining and transforming care.”
The Big Truth
Especially in NHS Dentistry where one is working within a very limited budget with unlimited demand and frankly dental diseases getting out of control.Adult Dental Health survey says almost half of population have gum diseases at BPE 3 or above (scale only goes 0-4) and the No.1 medical reason any young child is hospitalised in England is still ROTTEN TEETH and this is getting worse year on year!
It's time to admit THE BIG TRUTH........
Only then might a proper National Media campaign based upon prevention and reducing the extent of dental disease (improves health and reduces demand upon stretched system) be commissioned to benefit all.
Staying stuck in denial centrally and kicking the can of responsibility/action down the road continually, is just worsening dental problems and meaning we now need Charities used to working in the Third World, to see our vulnerable in society with basic toothaches, because the over-stretched nhs dental system simply cannot cope with BASIC dental needs, let alone all clinical needs for all the population = an impossibility nationally, frankly.
It's time for both The Big Truth publicly AND the 3-point plan nationally to address this dental crisis ASAP.
Well done the Kings Fund for speaking out publicly!
Yours clearly,
Tony.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report