Looking at quality and costs together, rather than in isolation, will lead to better value and improved care for patients, according to clinical and financial leaders in the NHS.
Category Archives: Finance
Don’t duck the hard choices spelt out by the Barker Commission – King’s Fund Blog Post
The post-war settlement that created the current divide between health and social care must be replaced. That is the clear conclusion of the interim report of the Barker Commission published last week.
The commission argues that a new settlement is needed, based on a single, ring-fenced budget for health and social care in which entitlements to care are more closely aligned. Additional funding will be required to achieve this objective and hard choices have to be faced about where this should come from.
The hard questions asked by the commission include:
- Should other areas of public spending be cut and resources reallocated to health and social care, for example, universal benefits for more affluent pensioners?
- Should taxes be raised to bring in more resources to fund a new settlement, for example, through changes to rules on inheritance tax or by imposing VAT on private health care?
- Should there be a hypothecated tax for health and social care?
- Should charges be extended or increased for some NHS services in order to reduce the costs of social care met by people receiving this care?
- Should there be a bigger role for social insurance, accepting that the commission does not favour a wholesale switch to this method of funding?
Thousands of redundant NHS staff rehired – BBC Article
New figures indicate that almost 4,000 staff made redundant from the NHS in England, before last year’s major restructuring, have since been re-employed.
Consultation outcome: Regulation of NHS charities –
NHS charities were established to receive and manage charitable funds to support healthcare in the NHS. They are typically linked to individual NHS providers (mainly hospital trusts) and range from Great Ormond Street to residual historical funds.
The Department of Health consulted with the NHS and other interested parties on final proposals to revise the governance of NHS charities.
Respondents to the consultation approved in principle the idea that, in the future, they could establish their NHS charity to operate on a more independent basis. Among other things this will mean they can, if they choose, appoint a dedicated board of trustees with the expertise to develop the charity.
A layer of central bureaucracy is also being removed because in future where NHS charities decide to follow this path neither the department nor ministers will be involved in appointments to the charities and fund transfers.
Experts hint at future cancer charges – Health Service Journal Article
Cancer patients may have to pay for some treatments if long-term high-quality NHS care is to be maintained, experts have suggested.
There could be “potential rationing of high-value treatments” without such charges, they argue.
(HSJ Article request full text from Trust Library Services or call 01942 822508)