Modernisation — NHS modernisation board report < Influencers contents | Print this page The NHS Modernisation Board’s second annual report into progress towards delivering the NHS Plan is worth a read. Particular successes highlighted in the report included:
The report concluded that significant improvements had been made since the publication of the NHS Plan two years ago but also said that there was still a long way to go. The The NHS Plan: a progress report is worth looking at in more detail. The NHS Alliance was disappointed that the report from the board had missed the opportunity to press for faster action in modernising the NHS: ‘There are too many meetings, too many directives and too much lip service to modernisation. A year after the government published Shifting the balance of power, we are still waiting for solid evidence that it is really happening’. They point out that the Modernisation Board was right to emphasise that most of the problems that still face the health service are caused by historic under-investment and that putting things right will inevitably take time: ‘Many
doctors are feeling discouraged and disenchanted. We have to recognise
that frontline staff are competent, dedicated professionals. All
we hear is talk about ‘earned autonomy’ with more and
more central directives to fulfil before we can be deemed responsible.
We have to fully engage clinicians with the whole process of commissioning
care, instead of relying on traditional purchasing and contract
systems that are so out of date no-one knows exactly what it is
they are buying. We have to build the NHS from primary care upwards
not — as is now the case — from hospital secondary care
downwards. If we don’t, there is a real danger that escalating
costs in secondary care will bankrupt the health service,”
said Dr Dixon.
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