Press release: Comment on health service reconfigurations
13 Sep 2006
Commenting on David Nicholson's first interview as Chief Executive of the NHS in the Guardian, Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said:
"There has been a longstanding debate about the need to change and adapt NHS services to reflect modern healthcare and move more patient care into the community and out of hospitals.
"Most of the decisions to shift services in this way have been under discussion for some time. And in a number of areas, the decision to change or close services is a way of dealing with longstanding issues of over-capacity.
"These changes in the way health services are configured locally would be necessary whether or not there are NHS deficits. Indeed, in some cases the reason why trusts have run up deficits in the first place is because these decisions were not made earlier.
"Better outcomes for patients are likely to be achieved by creating health services capable of handling complex and specialist cases. Changes in healthcare mean that it is not possible for every hospital to do this currently. It is not a matter of money.
"We need to get away from the fixation with buildings. We should recognise that services can be delivered in many settings and that proximity to a hospital may be less important than the ability to access the right services for a patient's needs.
"It is vitally important that NHS managers are given the political support to make these difficult and challenging decisions on the ground."
ENDS
Notes for editors
The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
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