NHS ''on track to deliver £6bn savings''

26 December 2011

The NHS is on track to deliver up to £5.9bn savings this financial year while maintaining or improving the quality of services, the Department of Health has said, promising that every penny saved will be reinvested in patient care.

The report for the second quarter of the year showed that of the eight key quality areas highlighted, all have been maintained or improved. In particular the NHS has reduced MRSA and C. difficile infection rates as well as driving down breach rates for mixed sex accommodation.

The report showed the NHS continued to perform strongly between July and September 2011 as it started to deliver local plans to meet the pressures of an ageing population and the rising costs of drugs and treatments. The NHS needs to save up to £20bn from its budget by 2015 to meet these challenges.

Primary care trusts (PCTs) reckoned they could achieve £5.9b of savings this financial year – and so far have delivered £2.5bn savings in the first six months of the efficiency challenge. This means the NHS is broadly on track to deliver the efficiency savings it needs – an improvement on the £4.3bn of efficiency savings which the Audit Commission found that the NHS already achieved last year.

The Department of Health said the local NHS had developed plans to improve quality that will gradually see more innovative care provided closer to home and more patients in control of their own care.

Examples where the NHS had improved services for patients and achieved efficiencies, the department said, include:
• South East Essex Community Healthcare piloted a 24/7 home nursing service for children and young people with difficult to manage asthma. The initial findings suggest this has helped young people and their families to manage their condition without attending hospital, has reduced the number of A&E attendances by almost 50 per cent and hospital admissions by 30 per cent among the target group.
• Community teams in Kirklees developed individual care plans for frequent ambulance callers. These can be accessed by ambulance crews and emergency care clinicians. Community matrons worked with care home staff to help them deal with the individual's underlying health problems – contributing to a reduction in 999 calls by care homes. Patients received better quality of care and there was a 70 per cent reduction in A&E attendances from this group.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "I am committed to the NHS and to services for patients – one that is free at the point of use. That's why there will be a £12.5bn increase in funding over the next four years, including £4.1bn in 2011/12. But even with this, we know the NHS must be more efficient to meet the pressures of an ageing population and the rising costs of drugs and treatments.

"We know that despite the increase in funding, the NHS needs to save up to £20bn from within its budget to meet these future challenges. Where the NHS can do things better and save money to reinvest in patient care, it must do so. We are already seeing the results – this report shows the NHS has achieved £2.5bn savings so far while keeping waiting times low, performing more tests, and reducing infections even further.

"We are absolutely clear that this does not mean cutting services – this means getting better value for every pound spent in the NHS so that it can continue to improve and deliver better services for patients every day."