Mike O'Brien

The NHS Employers conference was held this week, and several speakers gave their thoughts on the readiness of NHS staff to improve the quality of care they deliver while at the same time driving productivity gains.

The Health Minister, Mike O’Brien, was one of those speakers, and he reflected upon the changes in the NHS over the last few years. Arguing that staff are now better paid and happier than ever before, the minister focussed on the increase in staff numbers and better understanding between frontline staff and managers.. “But the fundamental turning point,” he said, “was the work done by Lord Darzi, the Next Stage Review of the NHS.  This was the first truly bottom-up, grassroots-led review of the Health Service.”

Your involvement in that review process was key to unlocking the talents and experiences which will be so important going forward. Your support, as Mike O’Brien recognised, will be crucial in ensuring quality remains the focus of a clinically-led NHS. Yet that quality must be achieved in an environment of tighter finances for everyone.  Mike O’Brien pointed out that this is not just due to the pressures of the credit crunch: “We said a decade ago we would get to the European average on health spending and by and large, give and take, we have done that. The financial expansion was going to come to a slow anyway.”

O’Brien’s other comments were in line with what we have been arguing on this site and elsewhere: quality, not “slash and burn costs”, should be our focus, and by improving care and patient experience through co-operation and innovation we can also control costs. As the Minister made clear, the quality agenda’s focus on the creativity of our staff can unlock efficiencies we need.

We face challenging, but exciting, times. This is an opportunity to design an NHS that is fit for the 21st Century. Keep thinking about the changes that are being made in your area to meet the quality and productivity challenge.