Delivering integrated and sustainable services

At the 2016 NHS Confederation Conference, Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, acknowledged how demanding the past 12 months have been for frontline staff. Despite the media focus on the negatives, he said he believed that the quality of care in the NHS today, for the vast majority of conditions, is better now than it has ever been. “This is not just due to the quality of clinical care,” he said. “It is also down to the compassion and sensitivity with which care is offered.” 

Since he took on his present role, Simon Stevens has been trying to establish a shared consensus about how health needs to evolve. He said: “We are creating more alignment nationally, between the various parts of the system and the creation of NHS Improvement, which I believe is an important building block and makes the argument for a stronger funding settlement for the NHS.” 

Focusing on the tasks facing the NHS in the coming years, Simon Stevens explained the need to stabilise finance and operational performance. “We have had to strip out 1% – around £650 million – of spending from funding that would have been available from CCGs for mental health services, community health services, primary care and other things. We want to be able to release that funding.”