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There is a warning of significant shortfalls in NHS funding from 2011, as demand (& costs) rapidly outstrip resources available ...
and the new Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, said on the BBC breakfast news today that the NHS will need to focus more on "Quality" and "Prevention" ...
A revelation? not really, just common sense, and a small step in the right direction ... a much bigger step would be to get rid of all the inappropriate targets, and command & control management practices in the NHS (which the Police also suffer from too - see my previous post) ...
When Poweromics makes way for Leanomics, and Command & Control practices are dismantled and replaced by 21st century management practices, we will really see things change for the better ... more with less (effort) ... more and better services provided ... and more rewarding jobs for all the staff too ...
... In this regard it's a real shame the UK Government have wasted their time (and a vast amount of OUR money!) over the last 10 years taking the NHS backwards (back to 19th Century practices) ... rather than forwards (to 21st century practices) .... let's see if they are really about to change .... or just make out they are (i.e. 'spin') ... They were responsible for 1) creating the problem - systematically generating wasteful practice and 2) and then throwing colossal amounts of money at it ...
If Government want to help, they need to rapidly re-train and/or replace out-of-date 'management' with 21st century management and introduce basic continuous improvement practices ... and get rid of all the inappropriate targets & policies which distract/stop staff from improving the healthcare provided too ...
Where healthcare providers have taken back the initiative and taken the lead, stress has been dramatically been reduced and a far better service provided - whether it's in hospitals or GP services (nb Andy Burnham referred to 21st century 'lean' practices in his interview too - so hopefully he's aware of the growing mountain of evidence that now exists) ...
However it's worth remembering who was responsible for introducing this 'systematic failure' in the first place - and we come back to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair ... but will either of them ever take responsibility for it? ... given they clearly like to apply Poweromics they will predictably 1) deny it, 2) quickly shift responsibility for it, and 3) blame others (e.g. the many health secretaries that have been ... and gone)! ... perhaps they'll surprise us ... but somehow I doubt it!
