£325 million investment will help NHS transform care for patients

A £325 million investment for local projects that will help the NHS to modernise and transform care for patients has been announced.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England boss Simon Stevens announced the investment at the King’s Fund, which supports Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) across the country. This initial tranche of funding has been targeted at the strongest and most advanced schemes in the STPs.

15 areas of the country have been approved, with the greatest sums being used for urgent care in Dorset, surgery in Greater Manchester and cancer care in Cumbria.

The investment will deliver faster diagnosis for conditions like cancer, easier access to mental health care, expansion of A&Es, shorter waits for operations and more services in GP surgeries.

The plans include: up to £50 million being made available in Greater Manchester to help hospitals deliver great improvements in urgent and emergency care; £30-£50 million being used to improve access to chemo and radiotherapy in Cumbria; and up to £30 million being invested to create an ‘Urgent Care Village’ at the Royal Derby in Derbyshire.

The funding was secured in the budget in March when the government also committed to make further capital investment available in the forthcoming autumn budget. All plans have been developed locally.

Hunt said: “This funding will support strong local plans to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients.

“A measure of success of these transformation partnerships is that people can see and feel improvements being made in their local area – there are already excellent examples of this across the country and this money will allow them to go further and faster.”

Stevens said: “Today we’re firing the starting gun on the first wave of major service upgrades and care redesign which will benefit people living in counties, towns and cities across England. For patients it’ll mean easier GP appointments, modern A&Es, and better cancer and mental health care. For staff, we’re putting our money where our mouth is in backing these practical plans developed by doctors, nurses and local NHS leaders. This is the first down payment of much needed investment in modern equipment and NHS facilities, with more promised in the autumn and beyond. Today is proof positive that when you back the NHS with investment, both patients and taxpayers see the practical benefits.”

Jon Roise, chief officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Helping our hospitals work better together is a priority for health and care devolution. This investment will enable us to make significant improvements in the quality of care for people needing general and high-risk surgery as well those admitted to hospital as an emergency. Patients across Greater Manchester will also benefit from this funding through the development of a new facility at Salford Royal Hospital to increase capacity for major trauma services; ensuring we can meet the needs of our population for decades to come.”

Stephen Eames, lead for the West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership (STP), said: “This is fantastic news for patients in Cumbria. This significant investment in our local cancer services – in partnership with the excellent specialist services at Newcastle hospitals – means we can provide more modern cancer treatment, from state of the art facilities, which will benefit people living across north Cumbria.”