‘The NHS doesn’t need staff – it has to change More money or with the times’
THE BIGGEST threat to the NHS is a loss of public confidence if it refuses to change with the times, high-level sources say.
An insider who was at the heart of the country’s response to the Covid pandemic sounded the alarm about “spectacular inefficiency” in the health service.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source warned that boosting the numbers of doctors and nurses alone will not rescue the NHS from its present crisis.
They told the Sunday Express:
NHS staff waste “enormous” time due to lack of information about their patients;
The traditional model of GPS running
‘Amount of time that’s wasted is enormous’
practices as small businesses is “dying out”;
The biggest improvements to public health will come through changing people’s unhealthy lifestyles;
Reforms to secure world-class healthcare for people are “totally doable” but will require the NHS to embrace modern technology.
The call for reform comes as Health Secretary Steve Barclay launches an “urgent and emergency care plan” in a bid to get services “back on track”.
Mr Barclay plans to expand community services so that more people are treated out of hospital, with clinicians able to monitor patients’ health at home.
He wants the NHS app to become the “digital front door for patients to access healthcare services from home, including checking health records and viewing and managing hospital appointments”.
Writing in today’s Sunday Express, Mr Barclay said: “While the NHS undoubtedly faces huge challenges, as do health systems around the world after the pandemic, we have a clear plan to cut waiting times and put services on a sustainable footing so future generations can continue to rely on world-class care for years to come.”
The top-level source made the case for a sweeping transformation of how the NHS delivers services, warning that the biggest threat to its future is “losing the public confidence by not changing”.
They warned of the “spectacular inefficiency in the use of people’s time”, saying: “If you work in the NHS, the amount of time that is wasted because of not having the right information at your fingertips is enormous.”
The call to change comes as the service is hit by waves of strikes and public concern mounts about record-breaking numbers of people on waiting lists, the difficulty in seeing a GP and long waits at A&ES.
Setting out the revolutionary scale of change required, they described how people should be able to contact NHS services on their phones and, if needed, book medical appointments at times of their choosing.
“When you turn up, you see the right person and they are ready for you.
“They know what’s wrong, they know what treatment you’ve already had. They have the records at their fingertips so you don’t have to explain the whole thing from the start to everybody, and then you get the treatment you need and, if it’s serious, you almost immediately get the world-class
‘When I spell it out, it is not rocket science’
treatment we are used to,” they said.
Insisting that this standard of efficiency is “totally doable”, they said: “When I spell it out, it’s not rocket science – it’s how modern
organisations work.” The source, who had an unrivalled view of the different parts of the health service during the pandemic, is adamant that boosting staffing levels alone will not save the NHS.
They said: “We have record numbers of doctors and nurses, with plans to increase them.what we have learned – which I have always feared – is that just radically increasing the numbers of doctors and nurses isn’t going to work.”
The biggest improvements to health, they argue, will not be delivered by the NHS.
“The best thing to improve the nation’s health and save the NHS is for Britain to be healthier – reducing smoking, reducing air pollution, doing more exercise, eating more healthily.
“The irony is that the answer to a healthy nation lies largely outside the NHS.”
Insisting that there is a big role for the private sector in delivering these standards of care, the source said: “GPS are essentially contracted private sector businesses, many of them.the NHS can’t operate without the private sector.
“Who cares how much is delivered through private sector contracts? What matters is that it’s free at the point of delivery.”
They expect the days of GPS running practices as small businesses are coming to an end with these doctors increasingly employed directly by the NHS. “I think that model is dying out, to tell you the truth,” they said. “Trainee GPS want to be employed and salaried and, increasingly, that’s good for the NHS as well.”
Despite the challenges facing an NHS which will shortly mark its 75th anniversary, the source remains committed to free healthcare at the point of need and is confident that it can be revived.
Underscoring the necessity of reform, they said: “I think the NHS can recover as soon as it’s prepared to change.”