The NHS faces formidable challenges, says Jeremy Hunt
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt attending the Health and Care Forum Reception at Conservative Party conference, said the NHS is coping “extraordinarily well” despite intense pressure on the frontline and “incredibly” constrained funding since the financial crisis.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt last night said the NHS is coping “extraordinarily well” despite intense pressure on the frontline and “incredibly” constrained funding since the financial crisis.
The Cabinet Minister said that while the NHS faces “formidable" challenges, the health service is recognised by patients and independent bodies as the “safest healthcare system in the world”.
Mr Hunt argued that it is the job of government to help the NHS and social care sector navigate this difficult period and conceded there is “much more to be done” in improving outcomes.
He was speaking at the Health and Care Forum Reception at Conservative party conference in Brighton, which ran in partnership with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Medical Protection Society and Tunstall.
Delivering the keynote speech, Mr Hunt told the audience: “As you all know, the NHS faces formidable challenges.
“The NHS and social care systems are coping extraordinarily well under absolutely huge pressure.
“I think the staff on the frontline deserve enormous credit for the fact that despite those pressures, despite the incredibly constrained funding of recent years following the financial crisis, we are still seeing… that outcomes have dramatically improved in the last three, five and 10 years.”
Mr Hunt said there are a “huge number of exciting things” unfolding in the NHS, such as in mental health provision and “bald moves” to implement integrated care through Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships.
But he added: “There is much, much more that needs to be done. We have to go much further with the strengthening of our out of hospital care if we’re to break this vicious circle of more and more resources being sucked into our hospitals, and us moving away from what the five-year forward view is all about, which is that prevention is better than cure. It means more GPs, better mental health provision; better social care and those are our challenges.
“We also have to improve our safety record. The Commonwealth Fund said that we are the safest healthcare system in the world, and I think that’s probably true. But even in that safest healthcare system, we have 150 avoidable deaths every week. That is just not acceptable.”
The Health Secretary said securing a strong economy to provide extra funding and prioritising standards of care were central to the Government’s stewardship of the NHS.
In conclusion, Mr Hunt added: “Not only did the Commonwealth Fund say in July that we were the best system in the world, better than America, better than France, better than Germany, most importantly better than Australia with the Ashes coming up, but also NHS patients are saying that too.
“If you look at the proportion of NHS patients who agree that their care is of a high standard, according to Ipsos Mori that’s gone up by 13% in the last four years.
“So, the public out there know what a brilliant job our NHS is doing. It’s our job to navigate this particularly challenging period, to make sure we come out the other side and say with real confidence that we will continue to be the best healthcare system in the world.”
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