Daily Insight: A Budget with ‘buts’

A grand bargain has been struck: the government says it will stump up £3.4bn to invest in outdated NHS technology. In exchange, the NHS will deliver ambitious productivity improvements, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said as he unveiled the Budget.

Productivity gains of around 2 per cent a year – more than double the long-run average – were originally included as part of the workforce plan. But at the time, NHS England said investment in tech and capital was needed to unlock those increases.

That now appears to have been delivered and NHSE is publicly on-board.

To ensure the service does not renege on its side of the deal, local bodies will have to publish new productivity metrics – with “incentives” for those doing best.

The funding – which is being spread over three years from 2025-26 – is being targeted at AI, app improvements and electronic patient records.

Mr Hunt said the NHS would become the “largest digitally integrated healthcare system in the world”.

The ambition is laudable, but we’ve been here before. In 2013 the then health secretary, one Jeremy Hunt, said the NHS should be paperless by 2018 – a target that has been missed by a country mile.

Vague title, big task

An NHS England national director has been appointed to the vaguely titled role of “chief officer” at a financially challenged trust.

Peter Ridley, former number two to Julian Kelly as NHSE’s deputy chief finance officer, was recently appointed to the executive role at Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust.

As chief officer, Mr Ridley will be responsible for the overall management and performance of the hospital, and will oversee development and delivery of clinical, operational and corporate services.

He will work closely with Joe Smyth, Isle of Wight Trust chief officer, to drive improvements across both neighbouring trusts.

The chief officer posts are part of a new combined management structure at the trusts, which saw Penny Emerit appointed as joint CEO in May last year.

All provider organisations within the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS, along with the ICB, have been in “segment 4” of NHSE’s oversight framework since June due to “critical” finance concerns.