Dorrell defends NHS chief over NHS crisis

Former Conservative Health Minister Stephen Dorrell has defended NHS England chief Simon Stevens in claims he was politically interfering and exaggerating NHS funding claims.

Dorrell, who is chair of the NHS Confederation, said he believed that any allegations of political interference were not fair on Stevens, and defended him on claiming that the NHS had not received the funding it had requested.

Despite tensions with Prime Minister Theresa May, Stevens has said that he will remain in his post for a further two years after revealing the deep divisions between himself and May over the NHS’s finances, to which they have contradictory claims, at the public accounts committee on 11 January.

The NHS Confederation recently warned that the NHS had come to a ‘tipping point’ and that it was time the government conceded that there were consequences to ‘limited investment’.

Over 20 NHS trusts in England have declared a black alert since the New Year, meaning that they were too overcrowded guarantee patient safety and provide their full range of normal services. This has seen a widespread cancelling of operations and treating adult patients in children’s wards. The recent cold weather is likely to exasperate this further.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Dorrell said: “I do think it is unfair on him, because he’s made it clear from the beginning. He set out, he is the author of, the five-year forward view; he is the author of the government’s policy of the health service as part of a broad range of public services.

“He’s been the strong advocate of the need to integrate, to change the way we deliver health and care in our communities in order to deliver more joined-up services with proper emphasis on care as well as on the essential elements of acute medicine.”

Professor Chris Ham, the chief executive of the Kings Fund, said: “Depending on the severity of winter pressure and then the end-of-year position, there is bound to be a debate on who is to be held accountable for the financial and operational pressures. Because of the complexity of the system, it is unclear whether the buck stops with the Department of Health, NHS England or NHS Improvement. This means that it could be any one of Jeremy Hunt, Simon Stevens or Jim Mackey who find themselves in the firing line.”