The Government today announced it is investing over £300m to support local health and social care integration plans.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens have announced £325m of capital investment to support a number of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs).
Local capital investment schemes in 15 areas of the country have been given the go ahead, with the largest sums being used for urgent care in Dorset, surgery in Greater Manchester and cancer care in Cumbria.
This initial funding has been targeted at what Whitehall describes as ‘the strongest and most advanced schemes in the STP categories’ based on an assessment of leadership and service performance.
‘This funding will support strong local plans to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients,’ said Mr Hunt.
‘A measure of success of these transformation partnerships is that people can see and feel improvements being made in their local area – there are already excellent examples of this across the country and this money will allow them to go further and faster.’
‘Today we’re firing the starting gun on the first wave of major service upgrades and care redesign which will benefit people living in counties, towns and cities across England,’ said Mr Stevens.
‘For patients it’ll mean easier GP appointments, modern A&Es, and better cancer and mental health care. For staff, we’re putting our money where our mouth is in backing these practical plans developed by doctors, nurses and local NHS leaders.
‘This is the first down payment of much needed investment in modern equipment and NHS facilities, with more promised in the autumn and beyond.
‘Today is proof positive that when you back the NHS with investment, both patients and taxpayers see the practical benefits.’
The news follows a survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) into STPs. It found more than three-quarters of councillors are ‘not confident’ the redesign of health and care services will succeed.
It also found only 21% of councillors have felt sufficiently engaged in their local STPs.
