A think-tank report examined how the National Health Service could respond to the combined challenge of resource constraints, rising costs, and increasing demand fuelled by an ageing population and increasing patient expectations. It called for politicians to be open about the implications of the economic recession for health spending. Health service leaders should resist reverting to 'command and control' techniques: they should instead encourage local commissioners to take a stronger leadership role across the whole of their local healthcare community in developing a response to budget constraints.
Source: Sarah Harvey, Alasdair Liddell and Laurie McMahon, Windmill 2009: NHS response to the financial storm, King's Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | Telegraph report | Pulse report
Date: 2009-Dec
A leaked internal report said that the National Health Service would have to lose around 137,000 jobs – almost one-tenth of its workforce – if it were to meet planned efficiency savings of £20 billion by 2014.
Source: The Guardian, 2 September 2009
Links: Guardian report | NHS Confederation press release | RCN press release | Health Service Journal report | People Management report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Sep
A think-tank report examined how a quality health service could best be maintained over the following decade in the context of a severe funding squeeze and demographic pressures. It ruled out large-scale structural changes, such as introducing a system of social insurance. Two strategies would be key to success: improving efficiency, and introducing a mechanism to constrain the 'inexorable' growth in demand.
Source: David Furness and Barney Gough, From Feast To Famine: Reforming the NHS for an age of austerity, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jul
A think-tank report examined three alternative funding futures for the National Health Service in England over the following two comprehensive spending review periods – 2011-12 to 2016-17 – and quantified the implications for other departments and taxation levels. Even under the most optimistic funding scenario, the NHS would struggle to meet people's healthcare needs without significant increases in productivity.
Source: John Appleby, Rowena Crawford and Carl Emmerson, How Cold Will It Be? Prospects for NHS funding: 2011-17, King's Fund (020 7307 2591) and Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2009-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on proposals to allow 'top-up' fees in the National Health Service.
Source: The Government's Response to the Health Select Committee Report on Top-up fees, Cm 7649, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report summarized the discussions at a series of seminars on the financial context facing the National Health Service in England. The NHS was confronted with the prospect of finding savings of around £15-20 billion over the period 2011-2014. It needed to adopt an 'intelligent approach' to finding these savings, which limited the impact on services. There needed to be a comprehensive approach to improving efficiency, encompassing actions at all levels.
Source: Chris Ham, Health in a Cold Climate: Developing an intelligent response to the financial challenges facing the NHS, Nuffield Trust (020 631 8450)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that 'commentators suggested' that there would be 'a very severe contraction' in National Health Service finances in England after the existing spending review in 2011. The service therefore needed to start planning for real-terms funding to fall by around 2.5-3 per cent per annum, and for the difficult choices over service provision that this would involve.
Source: Dealing with the Downturn: The greatest ever leadership challenge for the NHS?, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | Patients Association press release | Guardian report | BBC report | FT report | Pulse report | People Management report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs said that planned efficiency improvements in the National Health Service of £15 billion over the following three years needed to be achieved without harming patient care.
Source: Financial Management in the NHS: Report on the NHS Summarised Accounts 2007-08, Twenty-second Report (Session 2008-09), HC 225, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | RCN press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-May
A report presented estimates of expenditure on healthcare in the United Kingdom that were consistent with international definitions. The total as a percentage of national income had risen from 6.6 per cent in 1997 to 8.4 per cent in 2007.
Source: Rhys Lewis and Katherine Mills, Expenditure on Health Care in the UK 1997-2007, UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity/Office for National Statistics (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales said that although the financial position of the National Health Service in Wales had improved over the previous year, the forthcoming reorganization of the services represented a 'great opportunity' to further improve financial management.
Source: Are the Devolved Financial Management Arrangements in NHS Wales Effective?, Audit Committee/National Assembly for Wales (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | NAW press release
Date: 2009-Feb
