Long term NHS plans should be ‘firmly grounded’

A new briefing from NHS Providers has said that the forthcoming NHS long term plan must be firmly grounded in the reality of where the NHS is, and avoid setting more unreachable targets.

Five tests for the NHS long term plan establishes conditions for an ambitious and sustainable NHS, with NHS Providers recognising that over the last four years NHS trusts have treated more patients than ever before and maintained the quality of care despite major workforce shortages.

However, this has been achieved alongside a ‘sustained failure to meet key performance targets’ and significant financial deficits for providers. Therefore, any new plans must ‘ free the health service from a debilitating cycle of missed performance and financial targets’, which damages staff morale and the reputation of the NHS.

The five tests set out why the long term plan should: be centred around patients, service users, carers and families; be realistic and deliverable; be underpinned by a credible and sustainable workforce strategy; lay the groundwork for a sustainable high-performing service; and support local good governance, autonomy and accountability.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “The new NHS long term plan presents a great opportunity to adapt and improve the NHS to meet society’s growing and changing healthcare needs. The plan must confront the reality of growing demand for treatment as a result of our older, growing, population and the increasing number of people living with long term conditions. We must have a plan that honestly sets out how we will work together as a health and care system to cope with this demand.

“The plan must also reset what is asked of providers so that the vast majority of trusts, performing well, can return to being successful in delivering the care that patients and the public rightly expect. Assumptions about what can be achieved, and how quickly, must be realistic. That means listening carefully to frontline trusts, and winning their commitment to a plan that can be delivered, rather than setting them up to fail. If we are guided by the five tests set out here, we can put the NHS back on the path to success.”