HSJ Live 10.07.2014: HSJ Inspirational Women 2014

4.29pm The Telegraph has also reports on Simon Stevens’ speech to the Local Government Association annual conference yesterday. It focuses on him saying that firemen could help reduce the increasing number of elderly people being treated in hospital for falls by assessing the homes of old people for possible dangers reports.

The Telegraph reports that NHS spending on antidepressants rose by 30% last year and is at a record high, according to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre

This has raised concerns that people suffering from depression are being giving drugs because other non-pharmacological help is not available.

4.00pm The Telegraph has also reports on Simon Stevens’ speech to the Local Government Association annual conference yesterday. It focuses on him saying that firemen could help reduce the increasing number of elderly people being treated in hospital for falls by assessing the homes of old people for possible dangers reports.

3.38pm In The Daily Telegraph, a joint publication from the World Health Organisation, Alzheimer Disease International suggests that smokers have a 45 per cent higher risk of developing dementia than non-smokers (paper only).

3.25pm Flicking through the papers this afternoon, The Times reports on the £25.6 billion outstanding liabilities the NHS has for clinical negligence, a 13 per cent increase from the previous year. This comes amid a rise in people making claims and pay-outs.

2.40pm Joe Stringer, lead healthcare partner at Ernst and Young, has also commented on the Nuffield Trust report into NHS funding.

He is it is a “useful and sobering reminder of the challenge the NHS is facing, and the key findings will resonate with almost everyone working in the system.  

“However, increasing funding rarely equates to any guarantee for either improved access or health outcomes. Any additional funding that could be generated through taxation would only be a 1-2 year sticking plaster before we return to the same debate with a system in need of even greater reform.

“Instead, shifting care out of unaffordable settings, treating patients in an integrated way across organisations and taking the efficiency agenda to the next level can really bring long term benefits for the NHS.”

2.32pm In response to the Nuffield Trust report, Amanda Doyle, co-chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners, said “What the report doesn’t capture though is the hidden costs to CCGs who are often having to find solutions to problems in the wider system. 

“Whether it’s an overspend on specialised commissioning or the need to support a failing trust locally, CCGs are hamstrung as they face financial pressures from all parts of the health system and social care.”

CCGs are also having to find money from within their current budgets to pay for historical healthcare costs (NHS continuing healthcare legacy cases or NHS CHC) that were supposed to have been provided for by their predecessor PCTs.

“Despite a pledge by the then Secretary of State that there would be “no legacy debts” on the new CCG books and that they would start with “a clean slate”, they are now having to find the money from within their current and future budgets to pay for NHS CHC that would otherwise have been used to commission other services for their patients. This means that locally CCGs are fighting for the healthcare of patients past, present and future.

“So if we are to truly transform the NHS to ensure a sustainable and safe future, and develop innovative patient focused care there must be transparency and stability in CCG budgets. The whole system needs to align its priorities and work together to deliver new models of care. And there must be a commitment from politicians and NHS England to trust CCGs to work across the health and care system to commission high quality services that meet the needs of their local patients and populations.

Her co-chair Steve Kell said: “CCGs have recently submitted their 5 year plans which are robust, locally focused and developed with the involvement of patients and the local populations. However, they are at risk of becoming meaningless if the whole NHS doesn’t focus on developing effective out of hospital care and CCGs remain the risk pool for cuts and overspends elsewhere.”

1.59pm Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs has responded to the Nuffield Trust report by saying she is “shocked and dismayed by these figures which show that, yet again, patient care provided in general practice is being sacrificed at the expense of shoring up our hospitals.

“Demand for hospital services is growing – but so is the demand for general practice and less and less is being spent on our service.

“General practice is already teetering on the brink of collapse due to NHS funding falling to an historic low. The  fact that it has dropped – and been allowed to drop -  yet again pushes us even further towards the precipice and it is our patients who are bearing the brunt.   

“While the fall in funding might look small in percentage terms, this represents around £10m which could have been more wisely spent on GP services and cutting waiting times  for patients to see their GP.

She investment in general practice would relieve pressure on hospitals. This will allow GPs and their teams to care for patients in the community, closer to home, where care is more cost-effective and where patients want to be cared for.”

1.47pm The Foundation Trust Network has also responded to the Nuffield Trust report.

Head of analysis Siva Anandaciva said it is “a comprehensive and timely reminder of the financial pressures that have been building each year on the NHS.

“Providers have made significant progress in improving efficiency in the face of an unprecedented slowdown in NHS funding since 2010 but, as this report highlights again, the increasing financial strain on providers means that more individual organisations are falling into deficit and the provider sector as a whole was over £100million in deficit at the end of the last financial year.

“Our members have indicated that the NHS provider sector deficit could triple by the end of 2014-15, ahead of a widely anticipated crisis of health finances in 2015-16. Demand for services continues to grow but resources are not expanding at the same rate. At the same time, the additional funding needed to deliver clinically led transformation of services comes at considerable cost which is not being met by the current funding model.

“We can’t go on expecting all providers can deliver 4 per cent efficiency savings indefinitely without affecting patient care. Providers have generated billions of savings over the preceding financial years but there is significant doubt that providers can continue to meet the lion’s share of the productivity challenge without fundamental reform to the way services are paid for.

“Monitor and NHS England will soon publish their early thoughts on the 2015-16 National Tariff. Rapid and radical reform of the payment system is essential to prevent providers from falling deeper into deficit, and to ensure that NHS providers have the resources they need to remain clinically, financially and operationally sustainable.”

1.33pm There has been a lot of reponse to the Nuffield Trust’s report, Into the red? The State of the NHS’ finances.

Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Conferation, saif the report “confirms what we know about finances in the NHS today. It shows how far the financial picture has deteriorated within such a short space of time.

“Staff in organisations across the NHS have worked incredibly hard over the last four years to deliver unprecedented savings while public finances have been constrained, but the challenge is getting much more difficult.

“To better meet people’s needs, we must find new ways to deliver high quality care within budget. We cannot afford to deliver care in the same way and doing so will not meet the needs of the millions of people with long term conditions and ongoing needs.

He added: “We need to respond to the pressures on NHS finances with a ‘longer term settlement. Fixed term Parliaments mean we could have a five year, or even a ‘decade deal’, on funding. This would give us certainty and allow change to be better planned.  

“We also need a commitment to invest in transformation and a genuine commitment from politicians to support the changes which are essential for the NHS’s future. Our members will bring  a commitment to be ready for the change that is needed to deliver a sustainable health and care system.” 

12.43pm The waiting list for planned care has now breached the 3 million mark, the highest it has been in just over six years.

Despite this growth in demand the health service is managing to cope with the referral to treatment targets met in May, the latest data available.

The figures show that 96.5 per cent of non-admitted patients were treated within 18 weeks, while 90.1 per cent of admitted patients were treated.

Click here to see the figures in full.

12.08pm The NHS commitment to carry out routine operations within 18 weeks of referral by a GP should be reviewed, the new president of the Royal College of Surgeons said.

11.55am Unfortunately we inadvertently missed Karen Castille, associate director of the NHS Confederation, from the shortlist for HSJ Inspirational Women 2014.

Karen joined the NHS Confederation last year from Cambridge University Hospitals, where she impressed in her roles as chief nurse, director of organisational development and later as interim chief executive. In her new role, she is supporting the NHS in its response to the Francis report. But she is also looking at board leadership, culture and values, and supporting women in senior roles - all areas in which she has significant experience.

The judges said: “Karen’s deep understanding of what it takes to change organisations and culture is always in evidence. She understands the importance of gender issues and her work to improve the profile and development of senior women leaders is notable.”

11.49am The NHS in England could be in a funding crisis before the next general election, an influential think tank has said.

Accounts from 2013-14 show that the system is under “severe financial pressure”, the Nuffield Trust has warned.

The independent health charity’s new report Into the Red states the financial strength of NHS trusts is “weak and declining”. Provisional data for 2013-14 suggested that trusts were in a net overall deficit of more than £100m compared with an overall surplus of £383m the previous year.

And 66 trusts across the country were now in deficit compared to 45 in 2012-13.

You can read the full report here.