The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report on NHS financial sustainability which claims that there is a ‘lack of fresh thinking and decisive action’ within NHS England and DHSC, combined with ‘overly optimistic planning assumptions’, as the UK’s financial position continues to worsen.
A new report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warns that, while Government's forthcoming 10-year plan will be essential to the health service's recovery, senior health officials seem to be unambitious when it comes to taking the radical steps to begin to implement it.
The Government has laid out its planned 'three big shifts': from hospital-based to community care; from analogue to digital; and from treating ill health to prevention. However, in questioning both the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE), the PAC found that officials do not seem ready to prioritise these shifts — agreeing with the Government's aims, but arguing they are difficult and should take place only slowly, over the long-term, and not at the expense of patients now.
PAC claims that this risks "letting slip a golden opportunity to take significant decisions for the longer-term benefit of the nation's health, at precisely the moment where ideas to meet the level of change required would be highly desirable."
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