Five Year Forward View

The Five Year Forward View was produced by NHS England in October 2014 under the leadership of Simon Stevens as a planning document.

Publication and reception

It got congratulations for brevity, being only 39 pages, and lacking the illustrations which had graced its predecessors. Like the NHS Plan 2000 with which Stevens was also associated it was supported by the great and good of the NHS, but in this case it was regulators - Monitor, the Care Quality Commission and the like, rather than the Royal Colleges and Trades Unions of the earlier plan. This new national leadership of the NHS issues an unprecedented warning to politicians, none of whom are included in the endorsements, that it cannot continue at current funding levels, and additional resources worth more than 1.5 per cent a year in real terms will be required.[1]

No more top-down reorganisation is proposed, but instead the development of new models to suit local needs, something quite radical for the NHS, which is accustomed to the imposition of uniformity regardless of local conditions. It seeks to break away from Enoch Powell’s 1962 Hospital Plan for England and Wales which established the district general hospital as the central pillar of British healthcare.[2] Even more radical is the proposal to erode the distinction between hospital consultants and General practitioners, encouraging hospitals to employ GPs - a distinction which has lasted in the UK for more than a century and permitting the development of "Accountable Care Organisations" similar to those in Spain and parts of the USA.[3] Two new models of care – multispecialty community providers, and primary and acute care systems – involve integrating primary care and hospital care in a single provider organisation.[4]

The fact that the word “competition” does not appear once in the document is being hailed by a victory by Labour.

Its claims that the NHS could deliver £22bn of annual savings in 5 years’ time, is the latest of a long line of reports to assert that there is scope for the NHS to make major savings,[5] but the report does make it clear that more resources, an extra £8bn in Government funding by 2020 would be needed.[6]

Stevens said that the health service would have to break out of its “narrow confines” and promote healthy lifestyles. Employers are key to promoting better health in the population and there should be inentives encourage participation in Weight Watchers-type schemes.[7] The plan includes a focus on the health of NHS staff, saying that three quarters of hospitals fail to make available nutritious food for nurses and other workers on night shifts. Stevens said NHS staff should set an example by leading healthier lifestyles as part of a drive to improve the health of the nation. He pledged to get junk food out of hospital canteens.[8]

The plan also pays far more attention to the potential for technological innovation using the internet and mobile phone and apps than any previous NHS document. Technology, it envisages, will enable self-management, integration and patient centred care. This has already been done by the Vitality Partnership which is given a favourable mention in the document. It already conducts 75 per cent of consultations remotely using phone or Skype. Patients have an electronic care plan they can manage themselves, and digital access to consultant advice.[9]

Vanguard areas

29 areas were selected (from 269 applicants) to pilot new models for localised healthcare in March 2015.[10]

Primary and acute care systems

Integrated primary and acute care systems will bring together GPs, hospital, community and mental health services. Money will be directed from a joint budget to wherever patients are judged to need it most.

Multispecialty community providers

Multispecialty community providers will bring specialist services, like chemotherapy and dialysis, out of the hospital and closer to people’s homes.

Enhanced health in social care

Models of enhanced health in care homes will enable the NHS and councils to work together to provide more healthcare in care homes, and to provide better preventive services there.

References

  1. ↑ "Forward view: Unprecedented call for NHS funding growth". Health Service Journal. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "The future begins in Stevenstown". Local Government Chronicle. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Pym, Hugh (23 October 2014). "NHS five-year plan document 'packs a punch'". BBC News. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Stevens: New care vanguard must bring in GP lists". Health Service Journal. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Cram, Colin (27 October 2014). "NHS Five Year Forward View: bold promise of £22bn savings will fall short". Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "One in three NHS hospitals needed Government bailout funds last year". Independent. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Firms to receive NHS cash to reward staff for losing weight in 'radical model' for health care". Independent. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Giving night shift staff healthy food choices is a priority, says NHS chief". Nursing Standard. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Vickers, Robin (3 December 2014). "Building future NHS organisations starts with citizens". Health Service Journal. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Pym, Hugh (10 March 2015). "NHS revamp - rhetoric into reality?". BBC News. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "NHS chief unveils 29 ‘vanguard’ areas in his new reforms". Independent. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.

External Links

The NHS Five Year Forward View