Press release: NHS Confederation responds to State of Healthcare report
27 Oct 2006
Responding to the State of Healthcare report, Jo Webber, deputy director of policy at the NHS Confederation, which represents over 90 per cent of NHS organisations as well as independent providers of NHS services as affiliate members, said:
"Today's report demonstrates that the NHS is making significant improvements and, thanks to the hard work of clinicians, managers and support staff, patients are continuing to receive better care.
"Waiting times are down and more people are surviving diseases like cancer and heart disease.
"It is staggering to think that in 2000, the number of out-patients waiting more than three months was 393,000. Today that figure is 126. In addition, 98 per cent of patients are dealt with in four hours in A & E, compared to 91 per cent in 2003/04.
"Deaths from cancer and heart disease/stroke are also down - by14 per cent and 31 per cent in seven years.
"It is also reassuring to see that patient satisfaction with the care they receive remains high. In a recent survey of in-patients by the Healthcare Commission, 92 per cent rated the care they received as excellent, very good or good. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of the NHS' 1.3 million staff.
"However, there is always room for improvement and the Healthcare Commission report says that the NHS still has some way to go to deliver a world-class, patient-centred service for patients."
Commenting on the Commission's call to put patients first, Jo Webber said:
"We do need a stronger focus on patient satisfaction and outcomes. There are two major factors pushing in the opposite direction - the target culture and the new payment system incentivise outputs as opposed to outcomes. So we measure how many hip operations we perform, but not whether the patient actually has better mobility afterwards.
"The NHS Confederation believes that we need to radically overhaul the way that we measure success in the NHS, by putting patient satisfaction and outcomes at the heart of a new approach."
Commenting on health and health inequalities, Jo Webber said:
"The current financial climate in the NHS, combined with the recent reorganisations, has meant that public health and health inequalities have often not been a top priority.
"The NHS Confederation has called for a separate investment fund for health improvement. This would stop longer-term projects being squeezed by the more immediate demands of running a health service.
"Currently, initiatives to improve long-term health of communities compete for resources with day-to-day service provision."
On improving services for the most vulnerable, Jo Webber said:
"The State of Healthcare report highlights some concerns about services, provided by the NHS and the independent sector, for the most vulnerable - particularly those with mental health problems, learning disabilities, older people and children.
"The NHS Confederation agrees that it is of utmost importance that all people who come into contact with NHS services, especially the most vulnerable, are treated professionally and with dignity and respect. Partnership working is key. Where services for the most vulnerable work well, health and social care work very closely together for the benefit of the individual.
"We particularly recognise that learning disability services face significant challenges. Quality, availability and coverage of these services vary across the country. Levels of training and qualification among staff remain low, with shortages of key professionals and care staff. We need to focus our efforts on recruiting staff to work with these client groups.
"Whilst it is very easy to get public support for new technologies and drugs, services such as learning disabilities and mental health often get ignored. Yet a comprehensive health service must provide appropriate care for everyone.
"The NHS Confederation and our members are working with the Healthcare Commission on an audit of learning disability services across the country. We are also working in partnership with Young Minds to assess what is needed to improve services for children and young people who access mental health services."
On patient safety, Jo Webber said:
"More than one million people are treated by the NHS every 36 hours and for the vast majority their treatment goes smoothly, as the Healthcare Commission acknowledge in their report. It is also encouraging that three quarters of staff say their trust encourages them to report incidents - this represents a major cultural shift in recent years.
"But, if a patient has suffered adverse effects as a result of their treatment, it is vital that their well-being comes first. And to ensure that the NHS learns from mistakes in order to prevent them from happening again, it is also vital that incidents are reported in a consistent and timely manner.
"Communication to staff and patients is key here, but can often be a challenge in large and complex organisations. However, it is vitally important that we encourage a positive culture of reporting - this is the starting point for an open and honest culture which we want to see grow within the NHS.
"It is still relatively early days in the new system for reporting incidents that affect patient safety. As the system becomes more routine and more incidents are reported, we would expect the headline figures of patient safety incidents to increase.
"The NHS Confederation will work with our members in the NHS and independent sector to respond to today's report by the Healthcare Commission and continue to raise the standard of healthcare for patients and the public."
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. The Confederation also has a group of affiliate members made up of independent providers of NHS services;
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