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The "Nicholson challenge", couched as a financial savings target, is upside down.
It is a missed opportunity to harness the creative power of austerity. Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
The challenge should not be how we save what we don't have, but how we best invest what we do have.
This would be true whether we had less, the same or more money.
The NHS has never been good at aligning investment with objectives and outcomes (note the struggle to get any meaningful programme budgeting off the ground) but that's no reason not to think along those lines now. And we are now better placed than ever to align NHS objectives and investment with those of local authorities and others involved in care.
Our best hope of getting through this tough period is by getting onto the front foot, adopting a positive attitude, and pooling resources with those who share common purpose.
We are not alone. We have partners who share our objectives in each local authority area, and we have forums in which to meet, such as the health and wellbeing boards and academic health service networks. Each locality can and should take stock of local needs and assests (and assets are not just the money but things like buildings, skills, personal resilience and social capital).
No energy should be wasted regretting what we have lost or don't have.
We should be open with the public about the new "offer" and their part in it. Managing demand begins by managing expectations, and managing expectations requires honesty and engagement.
The Francis report gave us a new duty of "candour".
Austerity gives us a new duty of "can do".
That's the real challenge.