NHS chief sets out future plan

Simon Stevens, the new chief executive of NHS England has set out a five-year plan for the NHS. The ‘Five Year Forward View’ indicates that an annual £30billion shortfall would open up by 2020 and an extra £8bn a year would still be needed at the end of the period to maintain quality services. The sum amounts to 1.5% extra a year above inflation for the next five years. The current budget stands at £100bn a year.

The plan reveals this would only be enough if the health service became more efficient. To achieve this, the plan calls for a rethink about the way services are delivered. Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “In the face of mounting pressures across the NHS, this plan calls for a series of changes to support the delivery of health services. The Trust welcomes the plan and will continue to find new effective and efficient ways of working to ensure patient safety and quality of care.”  The plan can be found at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/.

Published 23rd October 2014