NHS community services promises falling flat

NHS Providers has said that promises to bring more patient care closer to home by prioritising NHS community services have fallen flat.

Despite national plans to help people stay well in their own homes and communities, thereby avoiding the need for hospital treatment, the NHS Community Services: taking centre stage report concludes that support on the ground has ‘failed to match the rhetoric, leaving many providers marginalised, underfunded and short staffed’.

The report finds that NHS community services are uniquely well placed to take a leading role in delivering more joined up patient care through sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) and integrated care systems (ICSs). However, services are currently ‘overstretched, underfunded and understaffed’ and ‘held back by burdensome competition and procurement rules’

NHS Providers reports that 52 per cent of community trusts said funding in their area had fallen in this financial year, with 44 per cent cutting costs. Furthermore, 82 per cent were worried or very worried that community health services would not receive the investment they need to deliver the ambitions of the Five Year Forward View, with more than nine in ten claiming that the gap between funding and demand for community services will grow over the next 12 months.

Chris Hopson, NHS Providers chief executive, said: "There is a real opportunity for NHS community services to take a leading role in the transformation of health and care services. They are in a unique position to act as integrators, working across boundaries and collaborating with other parts of the public sector to tackle health inequalities.

"They have played a central role in delivering new models of care, working with GPs, nurses, hospital specialists, mental health and social care services to deliver integrated care in the community. And yet – as our survey makes clear – all too often NHS community services are marginalised, underfunded and short staffed. It is patients who are paying the price for the failure to follow through on past commitments as the rest of the health and care system struggles to keep up with rising demand for treatment.

"We need to see to see community services given greater priority at national level and within STPs and ICSs. These services need adequate funding, and action to address staff shortages. It is vital that national leaders address the barriers we have identified to ensure that community services are at the heart of the future health and care system."