Put your views on the next steps for the NHS
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011The Government is making use of the natural pause in the passage of the Health Bill to pause, listen, reflect and improve its proposals – and you are invited to put forward your views.
The NHS Future Forum has been established to listen to stakeholders from across the health and social care sector, staff, patients and the public to reflect on their concerns about the modernisation of the NHS
You can have your say through one of the following:
- Attend an event – there will be various events across the country for all stakeholder groups during April and May.
- Post your views on the website at http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/
- Download a feedback form from the website and send it to nhsfutureforum@dh.gsi.gov.uk
The group is chaired by Professor Steve Field, practising GP in Birmingham and immediate past Chair of Council at the Royal College of General Practitioners
The listening exercise will close on 31 May 2011.
Listening Exercise Themes
The Government wants to hear what people have to say on all aspects of the changes, and particularly across the four themes within the Listening Exercise:
Choice and Competition
- How can we best ensure that competition and patient choice drives NHS improvement?
Public Accountability and Patient Involvement
- How can we make the NHS properly accountable to the public, and make sure that patient involvement is at the heart of its decision making?
Clinical Advice and Leadership
- How can we ensure that advice and leadership from NHS staff themselves on improving services and tackling patient needs are at the heart of the health service?
Education and Training
- How can we make sure that NHS staff in the future have the right skills to meet changing patient needs? Are the arrangements we have proposed for education and training the best ones to ensure this?
After the listening exercise, the Forum will continue to have a role listen and advise on other non-legislative aspects of the modernisation plans, implementation of the changes, and the design of any secondary legislation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Overview
Why is the government pausing the NHS modernisation programme?
We recognise that people are asking significant questions about what we are doing and that NHS staff are asking what our plans mean for them. That is why we are taking advantage of the natural break in the passage of the Bill to pause, listen, reflect and improve the plans.
We know that nothing is more important than the NHS, and change in the NHS is something we need to be very sure we get absolutely right.
Does this mean the government will scrap its reforms altogether?
No. This is not a review of the need for change. The NHS needs to change because it is not performing as well as it should be. For example, if it was performing at world-class levels, the NHS would be able to save an extra 5,000 lives a year from cancer, and 2,000 lives from respiratory disease. Our population is ageing, and the cost of advanced medicines and treatments rises every year.
Why has the government not listened to people’s views before now?
We want to make sure we capture the views of everyone who cares about the NHS as much as we do. We’ve already improved our plans based on what we’ve heard so far; now we want to improve them even further.
What is likely to be changed/what will stay the same?
We think there are a range of principles underpinning change in the NHS that many people agree on, including:
- patients should always share in decisions about their care;
- front-line staff should lead the design of local services;
- patients should have access to whichever services offer the best quality;
- all NHS trusts should gain the freedoms of foundation trust status;
- we should not try to run the NHS from Whitehall
- the public’s and patients’ voice must be strengthened;
- that public health should be a key priority
- competition is a means to the end of improving patient care, and should be carefully regulated.
What concerns the Bill, and this opportunity for further discussion, are the mechanics of putting these principles into practice.
Many thousands of GPs and other frontline clinical and other staff are already actively involved in GP-led commissioning consortia pathfinders, now covering 87% of the country’s population, and thousands of local authority staff are actively involved in the early implementer health and wellbeing boards, now covering 90% of local authorities. We are particularly keen to hear from these groups during the engagement process about the lessons they have learned so far.
How is the pause likely to affect the overall implementation timetable?
Because of the need to devote time and energy to the current engagement process, there will need to be an adjustment to the timetable for change at national and regional level. As the NHS Chief Executive has made clear, the timetable for the changes to commissioning has always been dependent on whether people are ready to take up the baton.
If consortia are not ready to take on their full commissioning responsibilities in April 2013, alternative arrangements can and will be made. This may involve these responsibilities being carried out by other consortia or by the NHS Commissioning Board.
During the pause, we will not press ahead with the establishment in ‘shadow form’ of the new independent NHS Board or with related changes. Nor will we go ahead with planned changes relating to any of the four areas on which we are engaging.
We will press on with the steps necessary to reduce administration costs this year so that the money can be spent instead on patient care. For example, we will ‘cluster’ primary care trusts into groups in order to save on back office costs. There is no option to reverse this even if we wanted to.
The listening exercise
What is the listening exercise?
The NHS is our most precious national asset. We need change in the NHS because our population is changing, because the cost of treatment is rising, and because we want to have the best health service in the world. We have already made our commitment to the NHS clear as a result of our difficult decision to protect the NHS budget. Our plans to modernise the NHS will give more power to professionals and more control to patients and will make services more local.
We want to take the opportunity presented by a natural break in the legislative process to pause, listen, reflect and improve our plans for modernisation of the health service. To do this, we will listen to the views of patients, clinicians and the public and where appropriate adapt our proposals in light of engagement and discussion. We will hold a series of events, launch the NHS Future Forum to hear from a range of people working right at the frontline, and speak directly to those who lead our NHS. By June, we will decide how to take forward the Bill in a way which reflects what we have heard.
Who can get involved?
Anyone. We want to hear views from patients, their families, the doctors and nurses that keep the NHS running. And we recognise that there are many expert organisations that have views and we want to hear those too. We want to work with you to improve our plans.
How can I get involved?
There will be events running in every part of the country over the next two months. This will give people a chance to get involved – from specific events for NHS staff, to others involved with the NHS, and those already involved in making change. You can also have your say online, and find out more about the engagement process, at www.dh.gov.uk/healthandcare
You say you’re interested in hearing from patients and health professionals, but what about others such as NHS managers? Do you want to hear from them too?
We want to hear from anyone who cares about the future of our NHS.
Is this another consultation?
No. Statutory consultation was undertaken last year. We are taking advantage of the natural break in the passage of the Bill to pause, listen, reflect and improve the plans.
NHS Future Forum
What is the role of the NHS future forum?
The NHS Future Forum will help to drive the engagement process. Its first task is to report the results and suggestions from the listening exercise to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health. It will then continue to work on listening and advising on aspects of the modernisation plans and on implementation.
Who will be on it?
Patient representatives, front-line workers and representatives from local government, communities, the third sector and others from the health field.
How were they selected?
They were selected as a diverse group who can help to drive the engagement process, but they are by no means an exclusive group and will be looking to stakeholders and constituents to help listen!
Are they being paid?
No, they are volunteering their time to help make the NHS fit for the future.
My organisation is not represented on the forum. How will its voice be heard?
The NHS Future Forum is only meant to help drive the process. We are relying on full and active involvement of organisations and individuals from across health, local communities and people who care about the future of the NHS.
Who will lead it?
Dr. Steve Field, GP and former president of the Royal College of GPs will lead the NHS Future Forum.
How and when will they report back?
They will report back to the PM, Deputy PM and Secretary of State for Health in eight weeks. Their conclusions will also be available to the public and stakeholders.
Will government actually take what they say seriously?
The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health have committed to building an NHS that serves us over the coming decades as well as it has since it was founded over 60 years ago. This listening exercise is a big part of making sure that the changes we have to make now are the right ones.
Why is the government using the Future Forum to “listen” for them? They’re still not really engaging with people.
The NHS is only as good as the people who are in it, and the Government takes this very seriously. We have heard concerns and issues emerge as the debate on the Bill has taken place: sometimes misconceptions, but sometimes genuine concerns. So we want to ensure that we continue to listen and engage.
GP pathfinder consortia and health and wellbeing boards
Is there still a role for local authorities and health and wellbeing boards?
Yes. The principles of clinical-led commissioning and of greater involvement of local government are clear. Consortia pathfinders and early implementer health and wellbeing boards should continue to make progress.
As part of the listening exercise, people will be able to suggest strengthening these further; for example around patient and public involvement.
Will this exercise impact on the proposed role of GPs as commissioners of health services?
We are clear that frontline staff should lead the design of local services. GPs are in a strong position to lead this and will need to come together with their colleagues across the NHS to make this work best for patients.
I’m part of GP consortia/health and wellbeing board – does the pause and the listening exercise mean that all the work we’ve done over the past few months was a waste of time?
No. Let’s be clear: this is a pause in the legislation. Everyone who is in the business of driving improvements in the NHS in their local area should keep on doing so. The principles of clinical-led commissioning and of greater involvement of local government are clear and consortia pathfinders and early implementer health and wellbeing boards should continue their work. We are also keen to hear from them as part of the engagement process. Those who are leading the change at local level should be at the heart of the engagement process, helping us to refine and improve our plans.
Does this mean that PCTs are no longer being abolished?
As was announced some time ago, the existing PCTs will be grouped into ‘clusters’ on 1 June. Subject to the passage of the legislation, they will be disbanded altogether by April 2013.
Local MP John Hemming attended a special event to mark the official opening of the