Press release: NHS Confederation announces 2 major initiatives in acute care
21 May 2001
Two initiatives in secondary and hospital based care have been announced by the NHS Confederation today. Working in parallel, they aim to develop high quality policy and identify the barriers to change in the hospital sector.
Nigel Edwards, Policy Director of the Confederation said: "the acute sector has an enormous task ahead of it and there are many pressures forcing fundamental change. Dealing with this requires a strong policy framework and will mean getting to grips with some very wicked problems. Our aim is to contribute significantly to these issues, develop solution and work to ensure that our members are properly resourced and supported to deliver change."
The first strand is the NHS Confederation's Acute Committee, which met last week [17 May 2001]. It has launched a new work programme looking at the modernisation of secondary and hospital-based care. Key areas of work will include service configuration, including pathology, emergency and maternity services and acute management capacity. Edwards said "as with PCTs it is becoming increasingly clear that the size of the management agenda for acute trusts has grown much faster than management resources."
At the same time the Confederation is to provide the base for the newly formed club of hospitals involved in major capital redevelopment - provisionally named £4 billion Club. So far over 20 Trusts have signed up to this project. The group is the initiative of Mark Britnell, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Birmingham, supported by Nigel Edwards, Director of Policy at the NHS Confederation and Andy Black of Durrow Management Consultants.
The Club will provide an important centre of information about projects, experts and innovative ideas, as well as commissioning work on issues of common interest to its members such as workforce and redesign.
Commenting on the £4bn Club, Britnell said: "the scale of investment over the next few years is enormous. We have a huge responsibility to get it right, what we build now will be with us for decades. Being able to share knowledge and expertise will greatly improve the results of our work."
ends
Notes for editors
The NHS Confederation is the voice of NHS management. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts and health authorities in Wales; trusts and health boards in Scotland; and health and social services trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
The Confederation's Acute committee members are:
John Adler Chief Executive, Sheffield Children's Hospital NHS Trust
Pat Archer-Jones Chief Executive, Worcestershire Health Authority
Ms Sue Assar Deputy Chief Executive, Manchester Health Authority
Mr Robert Baird Director of Finance/Deputy CEO, Milton Keynes General NHS Trust
Prof. Mark Baker Director of Medicine, North Yorkshire Health Authority
Alan Burns Chief Executive, Cambridgeshire Health Authority
Trevor Campbell-Davis Chief Executive, The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Jeff Chandra Chief Executive, Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust
R Cooper Director of Finance, Leeds Health Authority
David Dalton Chief Executive, Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery NHS Trust
Stephen Eames Chief Executive, Mount Vernon & Watford Hospitals NHS Trust
Andy Evans Acting Chief Executive, Westway PCG
Patricia Gordon Chief Executive, Mater Hospital HSS Trust
Mandy Griffin Director of Nursing & Quality, Leicester General NHS Trust
Bob Hudson Director Corporate Strategy, NHS Wales
Geraint Martin Chief Executive, Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust
Hugo Mascie-Taylor Medical Director, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Sonia Mills Chief Executive, Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust
Roger Moyse Chief Executive, Weston Area Health Trust
Dr Audrey Stenner Chair, Papworth Hospital NHS Trust
Angela Turner Executive Director of Nursing, Kings Mill Centre for Health Care
Contact details
- Contact Media Relations Manager Joanna Clason on 020 7074 3306 or 07798 571078 or Senior Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304 or 07767 770309. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.
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