RCP president Professor Jane Dacre, today welcomed the publication of NHS England’s Five Year Forward review. She said:
NHS England’s 5 year plan offers several new models of care that echo the RCP Future Hospital report’s ideas of promoting integrated care and bringing care closer to the patient.
The variety of new care models suggested in this thoughtful plan show that NHS England recognises the need for a flexible approach to providing local services, and supports integration of primary, secondary and community care much more effectively than before.
The RCP’s recently published five point plan for the next government – Future Hospital: more than a building - asked for no top down reorganisation of the NHS, and for the removal of the financial and structural barriers to joined-up care for patients. We are therefore delighted that the plan recognises that top down reorganisation is not the way ahead, and that the default position for the NHS should be local reorganisation ideally arising from work to develop the new care models suggested in the plan.
We also welcome the recognition of the need for transition funding to pump-prime and fast–track projects, and the awareness that the new models of care and service provision will need to be piloted and assessed for their effectiveness in improving patient care as well as reducing costs.