RCN calls for adequate funding for STPs

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called for improved funding and better consultation to ensure Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) can solve the problems of England’s healthcare system.

The comments were arrives after analysis from the British Medical Association (BMA) showed that STPs will require at least £9.5 billion of capital funding to be delivered successfully. 

According to the BMA, an investigation into the 44 STPs (sustainability and transformation plans) in England has revealed the vast sums are needed just to create the infrastructure to deliver the projects, with costly building projects and investment in community facilities vital to the plans. However, there is clearly nowhere near the funding required to carry out these plans.”

Commenting on the finding, Mark Porter, BMA council chair, said: “The BMA has been saying for some time now that the STP process could have offered a chance to change some of the problems that hang like a millstone around the health service’s neck: unnecessary competition, expensive fragmentation and buildings and equipment often unfit for purpose.

Responding to the comment, Tom Sandford, RCN director of England, added: “While the aspirations of STPs may be admirable, the lack of any financial commitment from the government is their Achilles heel.”

Sandford added: “We remain concerned these plans will be used to make savings, and short-term cuts to hospital beds and community services will be made without any plans for the long-term change envisaged by NHS England.”