“There is little capacity to deliver” planned NHS reform without “further details and meaningful actions” from the government, primary care bodies yesterday (June 16) warned.
Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed that the government is set to invest an annual funding uplift of £29 billion for the NHS until 2028/29.
But yesterday, primary care negotiators including Community Pharmacy England (CPE) joined forces to warn that the updated budget “is the single opportunity in this parliamentary cycle” for their sectors to deliver the NHS 10-year plan’s flagship three shifts.
Read more: In full: Chancellor announces ‘extra’ £29bn per year for NHS
The joint statement was signed by CPE chief executive Janet Morrison and leaders at the British Medical Association (BMA), the British Dental Association (BDA), the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) and the National Association for Primary Care Audiology Providers (NCHA).
It said that the leaders welcomed the “commitment to the NHS” in the spending review.
But they highlighted pressures that “all parts of primary care are facing due to a historic focus on specialist settings, bureaucracy and poor workforce planning by NHS England (NHSE) as well as funding cuts”.
“Little capacity”
“It is clear there is little capacity to deliver the reforms needed and improve the care people receive closer to home without further investment in primary care,” the statement said.
“We look forward to further details and meaningful actions to be announced in the coming days and we urge the government to work closely with us,” it added.
Read more: NHS chief: ‘Everyone’s worried’ about hospital to community shift
It stressed that officials must “begin the long-term process to rebuild primary care and help deliver on the government’s priorities for the NHS as part of the 10-year plan”.
“The key to future election success lies with us, working with you,” it added.
“Everyone’s worried”
The comments come as NHSE chief executive Sir James Mackey last week admitted that “everyone’s worried” about delivering the shift from hospital to community set to feature in the 10-year plan.
“We’ve talked about neighbourhood care and the shift for years and years…[but] we’ve never managed to do it on any scale or for any period,” he told delegates at the NHS Confed Expo in Manchester.
But he added that he has been “belligerent” about including financial reform and incentives “connected to the neighbourhood care” in the plan.
Read more: Streeting: Community healthcare not ‘all about GPs’
And health secretary Wes Streeting told the conference that the promised move of care out of hospitals and into the community will not solely rely on general practice.
He added that “much of what is done in a hospital today will be done on the high street...in a decade’s time”.
However, he failed to mention community pharmacy during his keynote speech.
Read more: Pharmacies to ‘play key role’ in NHS 10-year plan, says Starmer
An NHSE official also told delegates that while GPs will play a “very” central role in the 10-year health plan, the role of community pharmacy is “increasingly emerging” and needs to “grow”.
Both pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock and NHSE chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) David Webb have previously said that pharmacy would play a “key role” and be “critical” to the 10-year plan.
Meanwhile, healthcare leaders have warned that “radical reform” is needed in the government’s 10-year health plan, with some arguing that its approach to prevention is “lazy and limited”.
