NHS review may axe performance targets

A REVIEW of NHS efficiency led by a former Labour health secretary is set to cut the number of national targets, ministers say.

Patricia Hewitt has been asked to find ways to streamline the way the health service operates, in a bid to ensure record spending is not wasted on bureaucracy.

The review, which will report interim findings next month, comes after the Chancellor awarded the NHS an extra £3.3billion a year in his Autumn Statement.

Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said: “Local leaders are best placed to make decisions about their local populations and I want to empower them to find innovative solutions to… improve care for patients.

“Fewer top-down national targets and greater transparency will help us deliver this aim and I am grateful to Patricia Hewitt for agreeing to lead this vital review. I look forward to reviewing her findings.”

The NHS has already considered axing the four-hour A&E target, which has not been met since 2015.

But medics fear that getting rid of targets could mean performances get worse.

Government documents issued alongside the Autumn Statement also commit the NHS to improving some performance targets, including halving average ambulance wait times for heart attack and stroke victims.

Latest NHS figures show average waits of over an hour for such patients last month. Health services will be told to reduce this to an average of 30 minutes by next year.

Ms Hewitt, who chairs Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System, has previously said the NHS should learn from India and use technology to cut costs.

The former MP, who was chairman of the UK India Business Council from 2009 to 2017, told Health Service Journal: “They can deliver world class, NHS standards of care at a fraction of the price. It’s not primarily because salaries are lower, but because they have rethought the system from first principles and maximised the use of technology.”