The future of healthcare
Healthcare Partnership Network Midlands, 10-11 October 2024
Following the release of the Independent Investigation of the National Health Service in England, healthcare leaders across the country are eager to understand how the findings of the report will impact the future of the NHS.
At our HPN Midlands event, we hosted a panel discussion to discuss the future of healthcare. During this session, our panel of experts explored the current state of the NHS, and how the findings of the report feed into the three governmental shifts: illness to prevention, analogue to digital, and hospital to community.
Reflecting on the Darzi Report
When asked to reflect on Lord Darzi’s findings, the panellists shared a generally positive yet cautiously optimistic view of the report.
Kicking off the discussion, Foluke Ajayi, Chief Executive Officer at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust stressed the importance of using the report to create a realistic NHS plan that avoids superficial fixes and focuses on systemic redesign. She stated, ‘What I’m hoping is that that information will be used to inform that NHS plan and that we have a realistic plan that will help us deliver. I don’t want it to be something that is left to me. I don’t want it to be something that will just give sound bites. But there is a systematic approach to how we design what with the NHS in the future looks like, and then we have an honest conversation with society.’
Anthony May, Chief Executive Officer at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust commented that the report has sparked some great conversations, but agreed he wanted to see a plan put in place to address these issues. ‘I want to see what that 10-year plan looks like and whether Wes Streeting and colleagues have got a positive and realistic conversation going with the Treasury because that plan could cover three comprehensive spending reviews and two political administrations. It’s got to stand the test of time.’
Salma Yasmeen, Chief Executive Officer at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust remained hopeful, but also recognised the amount of time the plan would take to implement. ‘I feel really hopeful and optimistic that this diagnostic will at least help shape what the future or the next 10 years should look like. What I take away from it is though, it’s taken a long time to get to this point. And for those of us that work in the NHS, we would absolutely recognise that it’s going to take as long to get out of it.’
State of the NHS
When asked if she thought the NHS was broken, Foluke stated that the NHS is not where we want it to be but praised the efforts of the staff. ‘I think there are colleagues in the NHS that are committed and are doing their best with what they’ve got. But actually, what we haven’t got is an NHS that will deliver for our population and it’s not delivering the way we want it to today.’
Although she agreed that the NHS presents many challenges for staff, Salma recognised positive impact it’s still having on people’s lives. ‘It’s incredibly challenging and hard at the moment in the NHS. And I know that this is a conversation I have daily in my organisation, but actually what we do have to remind ourselves of is that we’re making a difference every single day. 1.6 million people a day have contact with the NHS. We make a difference in their lives, and we support them in the right way.’
Anthony agreed that it isn’t broken at the point of delivery thanks to the dedication of its staff, but that the system is failing to meet modern healthcare demands. He commented, ‘we need a plan that does invest in the service, particularly infrastructure as we look at the relationship between capital and labour, which can’t keep growing the workforce without giving the workforce the tools to do the job.’
Illness to prevention
When addressing the first of the three governmental shifts, Foluke explained the importance of prevention as a guiding principle, stating, ‘The shift from illness to prevention is partly the foundation on which ICSs (Integrated Care Systems) were formed. The whole point is to look at healthcare needs through a population health lens and address the drivers behind them.”
Salma talked about why prevention is so important, commenting, ‘We must stop people from becoming unwell in the first place. Building strong partnerships with voluntary and community sectors is crucial for delivering preventative care at the grassroots level.’
Make job descriptions more accessible
When opening up the conversation to the floor, one participant emphasised that job descriptions within the Civil Service are often too technical, full of jargon, and framed in a way that discourages a diverse range of applicants. She spoke about how Women in Tech initiatives have found success in reformatting job descriptions to be more inclusive and accessible and how this lesson could be applied more broadly to civil service roles. She explained, ‘We brought in various suppliers who we work with in the tech industry and asked them, “What’s wrong with these? Why are we not attracting the type of people that we want to attract?”’ She found that to attract the type of people they wanted, they had to format things in a different way. By simplifying language, reducing acronyms, and making descriptions clearer, leaders can help attract more candidates from outside the traditional Civil Service mould.
Analogue to digital
The shift from analogue to digital involves transitioning from traditional paper-based or outdated processes to modern, digital-first solutions that enhance efficiency and patient experience.
Salma acknowledged the challenges of digital immaturity within the NHS, stating, ‘Our organisation is behind digitally, but we’ve committed to accelerating this journey. Landing our electronic patient records (EPR) safely will be a critical step forward.’
All panellists agreed on the transformative potential of digital tools for both patients and staff. Foluke noted, “The tools we have today allow us to do things we couldn’t before. We need to make the best use of these tools to deliver care differently and more effectively.”
Hospital to community care
The discussion on transitioning care from acute hospital settings to community-based models was a major focus of the panel.
Although Anthony agreed moving from acute to community care was ideal, he felt there were many questions we needed to answer before it could be implemented. ‘You’ve got to work through questions like, where in the community? What do the facilities look like? How do the pathways match up?’
He also stressed the importance of bridging resources to ensure safe transitions, stating, ‘Any shift or transition requires a bridging… ensuring that it’s done safely and with the right level of investment.’
The need for better collaboration and integration across services was a recurring theme. Salma highlighted the significance of integrated mental health services, saying, ‘We now have integrated and enhanced teams offering psychological, mental health, and social care support wrapped around primary care networks, which I think is the building block and should be at the forefront of any community model.’
Foluke added that integration must extend to social care, noting, ‘There’s no clarity about a social care plan at the moment, and social care will be really important in making this shift into the community.’
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