NEWS
NHS productivity has fallen over the last ten years, according to a report by an influential committee of MPs.
Since 2000, NHS productiv- ity fell by an average of 0.2% a year, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Com- mittee, which said hospitals had been suffering a bigger produc- tivity loss of around 1.4% a year.
The committee acknowledged that vastly increased spending on the NHS had resulted in many improvements, but as committee chair Margaret Hodge explained: “The quality of the health service has improved as a result of this increase in spending. But the tax-
Minister dismisses social care funding gap report
Care services minister Paul Burstow has dismissed claims that social care services could face a funding gap of more than £1bn by 2014.
The King’s Fund think tank suggested councils would struggle to maintain home help and care home places, which could then impact on NHS services.
But Burstow argued: “We do not recognise The Kings Fund’s figures. The Government recently allocated extra money to encourage more joined-up working, support the delivery of social care and protect the most vulnerable in society. This funding should enable local authorities to protect people’s access to services and deliver new approaches to improve their care.”
Report author Richard Humphries argued: “The vital role played by social care in supporting the NHS to meet people’s needs is well known, however, health and care needs are in fact two sides of the same coin – social care should no longer be viewed as just a supportive handmaiden to the NHS.”
payer has been getting less for each pound spent.
“The Department of Health will now have to work to reverse the trend of falling productivity if it is to meet its ambitious revised target of achieving, by the end of
2014-15, savings of up to £20bn each year.”
Dr Paul Flynn, deputy chairman of the BMA’s Consultants Com- mittee, said: “Crude measures of productivity fail to take into ac- count some of the most important
Margaret Hodge MP
improvements that have taken place in the NHS. Investment has allowed doctors to spend more time with patients, with major reductions in mortality rates and waiting times.
“Although this report talks about ‘significant pay rises’, consult- ants’ salaries have been frozen for two years. We agree that new ways of working are necessary if the NHS is to achieve the effi- ciency savings demanded of it.
“However, knee-jerk responses – such as cutting the time con- sultants can spend on the de- velopment of new services – are likely to be counterproductive in the long term.”
The Department of Health and Home Office are trying to tackle ‘health tourism’ but ministers have vowed to go further than the recommendations of the 2009 re- view into the problem.
Public health minister Anne Milton said the consultation’s proposals will be adopted, but that more measures are needed to ensure a more balanced charging re- gime. The Home Office measures for the UK include banning any- one owing the NHS £1,000 from coming to the UK until the debt is paid off, which it is estimated will capture 94% of outstanding debt charges.
6 | national health executive Mar/Apr 11
The NHS will extend the time UK residents can spend abroad with- out losing their automatic entitle- ment to free hospital treatment, from three to six months.
It will also guarantee free hospi- tal treatment for unaccompanied children while under local author- ity care.
A further review will examine:
• qualifying residency criteria for free treatment;
• the full range of other current criteria that exempt particular services or visitors from charg- es for their treatment;
• whether visitors should be charged for GP services and other NHS services outside of hospitals;
• establishing more effective and efficient processes across the NHS to screen for eligibility and to make and recover charges; and
• whether to introduce a require- ment for health insurance tied to visas.
Milton said: “The NHS has a duty to anyone whose life or long-term health is at immediate risk, but we cannot afford to become an international health service, pro- viding free treatment for all.”
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