Consultation response: Long-term sustainability of the NHS

The RCP has long argued that we need to rethink the way we deliver healthcare: breaking down barriers between hospitals and the community, and working in partnership with patients to deliver joined-up care. To achieve this, we need a national health service that is funded to meet the needs of our ageing population.

Yet the NHS in 2016 is underfunded, underdoctored and overstretched.

Summary

• The NHS will struggle to meet the requirement, set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View, to save £22 billion by 2020.
• Moving to innovative new ways of delivering care across traditional boundaries – such as the RCP’s Future Hospital model – is essential. However, redesigning services does not always lead to cost savings in the long term.
• The delivery of high-quality patient care is vital to the long-term sustainability of the NHS.
• The UK does not train enough doctors to meet demand.
• The use of other groups of healthcare professionals should be considered to fill the gap.
• The expansion of the medical workforce will necessitate increases in medical school numbers, foundation training places, core medical training places, and specialty medical training numbers now.
• Ensuring adequate funding, staffing levels and resources are key to making services more integrated, responsive and patient-centred.
• Preventing ill health and improving health are amongst the most effective and cost-effective ways to ensure our health service is fit for future generations.
• Cuts to spending on public health will have serious and lasting implications for both the health of communities across England and the long-term sustainability of the NHS.
• Providers should use an agreed standardised structure and content for electronic records.

Contact

For more information please contact Methela Haque, RCP public affairs adviser: methela.haque@rcplondon.ac.uk.