The Government has a lot to do to reassure the public sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) are about delivering efficiencies and ‘not just a cover for cuts in services’, MPs say.
A report into the state of the NHS, published today by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), urged key figures responsible for the health service to stop ‘bickering in public’.
It called on the Department of Health, NHS England and Downing Street to work together ‘in the best interests of patients’.
PAC warned Whitehall was asking local bodies ‘to solve multiple problems and deliver a range of priorities’ without a proper understanding of what could be achieved.
‘Transformation under such pressure is hard to achieve,’ it said.
It also said action to restore financial stability is affecting patients’ access to services and their experience of care, and warned of potentially damaging consequences of ‘repeated raids’ on investment funds to meet day-to-day spending.
NHS England and NHS Improvement must explain how they will support transformation in areas where STPs fall short and take action to ‘convince the public of the benefits of the plans to them’, the committee said.
