Ministers 'block reform of NHS'

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Ministers should be removed from the decision making process to make closing hospitals easier, experts have said.

The King’s Fund, a leading think tank on the health service, said politicians often "act as a barrier" to essential NHS reforms.

In a report released today, the think tank said it wanted to "prevent politicians from blocking essential changes that will lead to higher quality and safer NHS care".

The report, Reconfiguration of Hospital Services, found that the current decision-making process for hospital reconfigurations is complex and bureaucratic, and it poses "significant risks" to the delivery of safe services.

It found that in some areas, concentrating staff and resources in fewer buildings would improve treatment.

The Kings Fund recommends that ministers should not have the final say on the reforms to hospital services, and instead decisions should be made by an independent panel.

Candace Imison, deputy director of policy at The King's Fund, and the author of the paper, said: "Changes to the way hospital services are organised in some parts of the country are now a necessity, not an option, if the NHS is to deliver safe, high quality care.

"With the NHS facing growing financial pressures and difficulties in recruiting staff with the right skills, politicians must grasp the nettle on this - not to do so risks allowing the continuation of poor quality and potentially unsafe services.

"Politicians have an important and legitimate interest in how health care is provided locally but too often act as a barrier, rather than facilitating the honest dialogue needed with the public."

Responding to the report, a Department of Health spokesperson said:

"The King's Fund has highlighted that reconfigurations should be based on quality, safety and efficiency, with decisions underpinned by strong public engagement.

"We agree. Our plans to modernise the NHS empower local clinical commissioning groups to develop services that will best meet the needs of patients."

The spokesperson added that the government was also working to strengthen relationships between the NHS, local authorities and patient groups through health and well-being boards.

He added: "Our aim is to put patients, carers and local communities at the heart of the NHS, shifting decision-making as close as possible to patients by devolving power to clinicians, liberating staff from top-down control."

Professor Terence Stephenson, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "Children’s health services cannot be sustained without radical change. The King’s Fund is right to propose that the setting of minimum clinical standards is the basis on which to reconfigure hospital services.

"Our recently published our Facing the Future report outlining the need for urgent reconfiguration of services to maintain high quality, safe services for children. Too often politicians and other vested interests are a stumbling block to effective reorganisation."