NHS Confederation responds to announcement that NHS trusts will be given new powers to improve care

Responding to the Secretary of State’s announcement at the NHS Providers annual conference that top NHS trusts given new powers to improve care, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation, said:

“We welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to empower local leaders to deliver change. Allowing the highest-performing NHS trusts to become ‘advanced foundation trusts’ will enable them to deliver faster, more personalised care to patients – an important step toward introducing the first integrated health organisations (IHOs) as part of shifting more services from hospitals into the community.

“Enabling NHS organisations to make decisions locally is the most effective way to drive reform, improve care, and deliver better value for money. Collaboration between providers will be essential to achieving this. But while new foundation trusts will clearly have further flexibility and financial freedoms, this should not be the limit of the ambition. We hope that more capital funding will be provided in the forthcoming Autumn Budget to modernise NHS buildings and equipment so that safe, efficient and high-quality care can be delivered to patients and that all trusts can be empowered to spend money in a timely and efficient manner.

“We would also like to thank the Secretary of State for acknowledging the detrimental impact that the delays to voluntary redundancy arrangements have had on NHS leaders and their staff, including in ICBs, and the pressure they were under. We hope that this difficult change process can now be resolved as quickly as possible for all those involved.”