Future Forum boss denies there are ‘spooks’ trying to destroy the NHS
The GP appointed by the Government to lead its ‘listening exercise’ over the proposed health reforms has denied there are ‘spooks trying to destroy the NHS’ and is urging managers and staff to be more positive about the changes.
Speaking at last week's NHS Confederation annual conference in Manchester, Professor Steve Field, chairman of the NHS Future Forum and a practising GP at the Bellevue Medical Centre in Birmingham, said it was time to stop arguing and get down to business.
There are no spooks or people trying to destroy the NHS and trying to kill patients. If we are negative about the changes, how can patients have any confidence?
He told delegates: "We are professionals and it is time to move forward and make this new landscape work. There are no spooks or people trying to destroy the NHS and trying to kill patients. If we are negative about the changes, how can patients have any confidence? This is too important to play with politics. It's about organisations coming together and it is about patients.
"Resistance is futile and we have to move forward. The success of the NHS is that we are doing more and more, but we need to do it better and smarter."
And he appealed for joined-up thinking, claiming that GPs would have to learn to work well with managers and family doctors would have to have much better relationships with hospital clinicians. He told the conference: "What we have heard in the listening exercise is that the clinical leadership proposed is sensible, but we need a much more integrated health system. It is OK to do things differently.
The success of the NHS is that we are doing more and more, but we need to do it better and smarter
"David Cameron recently spoke passionately about his son and the care he received from the NHS, and he commented on how the NHS is fragmented. Professional rivalries exist in some branches of medicine and they do not commission as well as they could do.
"Let's get rid of the divide between managers and patients and between doctors and nurses. We want to create a new culture where people talk to each other and everyone works together for the common good. We are professionals and it is time to move forward and make this work."
We know GPs in general support the concept of clinician-led commissioning, but with caveats and safeguards. We now need the rhetoric to be matched by reality.
Supporting the need for better working relationships was Dame Barbara Hakin, a GP, former PCT chief executive, and national managing director of commissioning development at the Department of Health. She said management expertise would be crucial moving forward, adding: "I am a manager and a clinician and I realise how much of a difference good management makes to the NHS. I see too many clinicians who want to step into leadership roles without the support they need. There is a massive window of opportunity for us.
And Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a London-based doctor and a negotiator for the British Medical Association's General Practitioners Committee, appealed to GPs to stop dragging their feet and start accepting their new role.
The ability for these groups to succeed and manage savage efficiency savings will only come if they have the engagement and corporate loyalty of all GPs.
He added: "The ability for these groups to succeed and manage savage efficiency savings will only come if they have the engagement and corporate loyalty of all GPs. We are not starting with a completely blank sheet. We have had practice-based commissioning and, six years later, there have been some successes, but in general it failed to succeed as a national policy because it failed to engage GPs. The challenge past the listening exercise is how will this be any different. We need to look at how we engage them in a manner not managed in the past. We know GPs in general support the concept of clinician-led commissioning, but with caveats and safeguards. We now need the rhetoric to be matched by reality."