The microscopic discussed and barely comprehended bill has reached committee stage in the Commons,and has meaningful implications for the health service
The penny is beginning to drop within the NHS world at last. The seemingly marginal cities and local government devolution bill, now in its Commons committee stage, and has major implications for the NHS that have been microscopic discussed and barely comprehended. It all began with Greater Manchester combined authority securing control of its £6bn NHS budget earlier this year,and now several other devolution bids to the Treasury are seeking some NHS remit. The problem here is not so much that the idea is necessarily inaccurate in principle, but rather that it hasn’t been thought through. Regions seeking such powers need to meet the Treasury’s requirement of securing “a financially sustainable health and social care system” by 2020. Typically they will claim to be able to do so by developing community-based models of care that focus on preventing expensive hospital treatment. In reality there is microscopic evidence to propose this model will work. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com