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It should really come as a surprise that this article is coming from the private sector. A continuously changing environment is a given. You have 2 options – or you develop the capability to deal with these changes and innovate your products or services (Apple – Virgin) or you don’t, in which case you’ll go bust (MG Rover, Woolworth). Going back to your shareholders and asking them for more money and suggest different sources of funding is simply not an option, unless you can demonstrate that you have the capability to deliver a return on their investment and increase value. The NHS cannot demonstrate this, despite having spent millions with the big four consultancies. The fact is that the 288% increase in funding the NHS has received over a 12 year period, courtesy of the previous government, has not resulted in a proportionate improvement in services. So how much does it need to improve – 500%? 1000%?? And where does it get this sort of money from?
The much more fundamental challenge therefore is how the NHS can develop its capability to innovate and improve its services as without it any investment will be throwing good money after bad. The White Paper and the Health and Social Care Bill quite rightly put the onus for this on the NHS itself. I get the feeling that that the NHS better get on with it and should not rely on its management consultants as it appears that they do not have anything constructive to contribute to this much more fundamental discussion.