Wanless: Action still needed on NHS
Unprecedented investment into the NHS over the past five years has not produced meaningful improvements in productivity, an independent report for the King’s Fund has claimed today.
After examining how effective extra government funding to health services had been, the author of the report Derek Wanless admitted there had been some improvements in areas such as patient care, infrastructure and life expectancy.
But, despite these advances, Mr Wanless was critical of other areas such as productivity and obesity prevention.
In 2002 Mr Wanless published a seminal report for the Treasury which recommended dramatic increases in NHS spending.
This latest review for the King’s Fund examines whether the pace and direction of government reform has delivered value for money.
It concluded the additional funding has not produced improvements in productivity, with costs of providing hospital services actually increasing in recent years.
Progress on lifestyle behaviours has also been slower than predicted. In particular, the report highlighted dramatic rises in adult and child obesity as a great concern.
While praising the extra funding since 2002, Mr Wanless ultimately stressed that: “We are not on course to deliver the sustainable and world class health care system.”
He continued: “Without significant improvements in NHS productivity, and much greater efforts to tackle obesity in particular, even higher levels of funding will be needed over the next two decades to deliver the comprehensive, high-quality services envisaged by my original review.”
Mr Wanless commended the broad direction of government health policy, saying it was on the right course, but insisted there was distance to cover before his 2002 fully-engaged scenario was realised.
The Department of Health recognised the areas of concern and insisted the issues would be central to decisions made in the next few weeks as part of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
Liberal Democrat health secretary Norman Lamb labelled the report as “a damning critique” and warned that failing to act now could induce a serious public health crisis in the future.
