Health chiefs have been accused of being “out of ideas and remarkably complacent” over the future of ther NHS. A Public Account Committee report delving into the NHS and its finances released this week criticised the service warning action was needed.
However the NHS has hit back slamming the report, damningly named: “Future of the NHS: Health officials out of ideas and remarkably complacent” as “flawed”. And it claimed it has “basic factual inaccuracies”.
The PAC report analysed the Government three planned changes for the NHS: a move from hospital to community care, a digital update and shifting focus from treatment to prevention. After consulting with both NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care, the report concluded: “Officials do not seem ready to prioritise these shifts – agreeing with the Government’s aims, but arguing they are difficult and should take place only slowly, over the long-term, and not at the expense of patients now.
It warned the service that its “senior health officials seem to be unambitious when it comes to taking the radical steps to begin to implement it” to implement the government’s plans. A particularly concerning finding taking into account the “worsening financial position” the committee claimed to find in the NHS.
The NHS did not hold back in its response and swiftly delivered an equally brutal statement slamming the PAC. An NHS spokesperson said: “The report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) contains basic factual inaccuracies and a flawed understanding of how the NHS and the government’s financial processes work.
“While NHS productivity is now improving at double pre-pandemic levels – far from being complacent, NHS England has repeatedly been open about the problem and the actions being taken to address it, including in the December public board meeting, and we will be publishing further improvement measures later this week in planning guidance.
“Reform is part of the NHS’ DNA and has ensured performance improvements for patients in the past year, including innovations such as virtual wards – despite the huge challenges the NHS has faced, including capital starvation, unprecedented strikes and a fragile social care sector.
“Lord Darzi’s report was clear many of the solutions can be found in parts of the NHS today, and we are working closely with the government to drive this innovation forward as we develop the ambitious 10 Year Health Plan to build an NHS which is fit for the future.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Committee, said as part of the initial report: “The current Government has told the public that the NHS is broken. This will not come as news to NHS patients, nor to its hard-working staff across the country.
“We were aghast, then, to find amongst senior officials in charge of delivering these ambitions some of the worst complacency displayed to the PAC in my time serving on it. The evidence given to our inquiry exposes the perennial weaknesses with which those scrutinising this country’s health systems are now very familiar.
“We therefore have a simple message for those senior officials responsible for delivery. Truly fresh ideas and radical energy must be generated to meet the scale of what is required – on community healthcare, on prevention, on digital transformation. Given the position of the NHS, forcing this Committee to wade through treacle by mouthing the same stale platitudes of incremental change is simply not going to cut it.”