Commenting on the publication on the Health Select Committee’s Public Expenditure report, Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), said:
The RCP agrees that meeting the £20 billion efficiency savings at the same time as dealing with the increasingly elderly population is a difficult challenge for the NHS. It is crucial that the proposed reforms help services meet this challenge, rather than distract from it. The government has failed to set out clearly how this will be achieved.
While improving efficiency, the NHS must still at the same time invest in quality. A key priority is to provide consultant delivered care, which would both improve standards and patient experience, and save money. The health reforms must also improve the process for making decisions about service reconfiguration, for this will increase the availability of consultants, and facilitate seven day infrastructure to underpin consistent patient care. Clinicians and local communities should lead those decisions.
The RCP agrees with the Committee that health and social care must be more fully integrated. This will improve patient experience and should improve efficiency. Specifically, with efficiency savings in the NHS and cuts in the budgets of local authorities, the RCP is concerned about increased bed blocking in hospital wards. The number of care home beds that will be lost per year is set to rise from 5,190 in 2011 to 8,500 by 2015, and remain at that level until 2020. This could lead to yet more elderly people using accident and emergency departments and hospital services when a care home or care in their own home would be more appropriate.
The government urgently needs to resolve how to fund adult social care. The current system has been criticised for being unfair, complex and financially unstable. There are large regional variations, eligibility is complicated, and an ageing population will continue to increase pressure on the health and social care system.
For further information, please contact Linda Cuthbertson, head of PR, on +44 (0)203 075 1254 / 0774 877 7919, or email Linda.Cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk