Lord Lansley delivers third NHS Providers annual lecture
22 September 2016
Lord Lansley, the principal architect of the Health and Social Care Act, delivered the NHS Providers annual lecture in London to an audience of NHS leaders and senior stakeholders.
Three years on from when the reforms were implemented, NHS Providers opened a timely debate on what aspects of the Act are working well and should be retained, as well as what elements should be changed.
Lord Lansley focused on the extent to which the reforms linked to the Health and Social Care act are being implemented, or not; and their continuing relevance to tackling the problems facing the NHS today.
He noted how anyone who spends time with the NHS "cannot fail to be impressed by the skill, commitment and care given to so many people and the sheer scale of the clinical knowledge brought to bear in seeing and treating nearly a million people a day".
In his wide-ranging speech, Lord Lansley outlined the key propositions and structural changes on which the reforms were constructed, discussed sustainability and transformation plans, the ongoing junior doctors dispute, the financial deficit, and NHS funding.
Lord Lansley called for a "Brexit bonus" of no less than £5bn a year, no later than 2019/20, and said the government should commit to not allowing NHS expenditure to fall below a defined proportion of GDP.
NHS Providers chief executive, Chris Hopson, said:
"These are interesting proposals from Lord Lansley and he rightly identifies the clear and widening gap that we are now seeing between what the NHS is being asked to deliver and the funding it has available. Something has to give.
"This is particularly so since NHS funding increases are about to drop from 3.8% this year to 1.4% next year and 0.3% in 2018-19. Additional funding is part of the equation but we also need to deliver greater efficiencies as NHS trusts know only too well. We think there is an important debate to be had about how much of our national wealth we devote to health and care.”
The lecture received media coverage across the Times, the Daily Telegraph and HSJ.
Read the speech in full, and see Twitter highlights from the evening.
Listen again to the lecture in full: