Alex Thomson in The MJ: Taking the write approach to tackling healthcare
Author: Alex Thomson, Localis |
Localis’ Alex Thomson writes in the MJ on Localis’ latest essay collection on the future of healthcare.
The coalition government began to make some real progress in integrating health and social care, culminating in the remarkable Devo Manc announcement of an enormous 6bn budget being put under the control of Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Whilst the detail of this is yet to be discussed, it seems likely that this will be a giant step towards allowing other local areas to take healthcare decisions much closer to the populations they affect.
It therefore seemed an excellent time for Localis to gather a range of expert views on what the future of healthcare looks like. I’m thrilled that we were able to assemble a stellar line-up of essayists, and even more pleased (if not surprised) that there was a strong flavour of localism to all their responses.
Stephen Dorrell, former Secretary of State for Health, highlights two of the key benefits that localism can bring to the NHS: greater efficiency and accountability. For too long, he says, the voice of local representation has been ignored by the NHS as ‘politics’ and that this has to change. Indeed, he argues that unaccountable services are bound to be inefficient services because they lose touch with the people who needs they are supposed to serve.
Cllr Philip Atkins, leader of Staffordshire CC, highlights the importance of effective partnerships in delivering healthcare reform, citing the example of his council which has developed a mechanism for bringing together local leaders from all parts of the county ? the key city, all of the districts and county council ? to speak with one voice. Through this local leaders’ board Staffordshire can collectively identify, agree and tackle health challenges together as a shared strategy, as part of a broader area-wide conversation about jobs, growth and housing.
Tony Lambert, director of pricing at NHS Monitor, writes on the necessity to radically redesign health and social care services in order to deal with future demand. He suggests that local government can help the NHS provide a service geared towards wellbeing and prevention through its relationship with local communities. He also argues that NHS, local and central government all have to rise above conflicting institutional interests and, by addressing public concerns in unison, make the case for change.
Sir John Oldham, recent chair of the independent commission on whole person care, makes the case for multi-disciplinary integration of healthcare at the lowest level. Without such a change, he contends, the NHS and care system will remain focused on the challenges of 1945 ? predominately single diseases ? rather than the very different challenges of 2015.
Dr Onkar Sahota, chair of the GLA health committee, speculates on the future of general practice. He proposes that hospital, community, GP and social service budgets should be put into a single envelope for a borough-wide health population, in order to achieve the most efficient healthcare service. Additionally he recommends that the NHS should develop a salaried GP service and take on responsibility for modernising GP premises.
And finally Robert Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, writes about the sustainable future of the healthcare workforce, arguing that in order to meet the challenges ahead the existing NHS workforce will need to have a greater understanding of resources in their local community. This, he suggests, will require enhanced communication skills in order to work effectively with different sectors and professions, making the crucial observation that a large and growing proportion of healthcare is delivered by staff not employed by the NHS.
If this has whetted your appetite, the full essay collection will be published online by Localis on the 29 June, just in time for LGA conference.
The essay collection which the article references can be read here.