Building a Health and Care Service That Works for Patients 

Steve Barclay MP

Former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

In this exclusive article, Steve Barclay MP (Health Secretary at the time of writing) sets out some of the measures being implemented across the NHS to meet the Prime Minister’s priority of cutting NHS waiting lists. 

I am driven by ensuring people can get the care they need when they need it – whether that’s through boosting capacity in hospitals, expanding our workforce, or embracing the latest technology to tackle waiting lists. 

Over the past year, I have focused on immediate steps to tackle challenges facing the health and social care system. A&E waits and ambulance response times have fallen in recent months, thanks to extra government investment and the hard work of NHS staff.    

Yet, I know winter is an immensely busy period for NHS services. That is why this year, we have worked with health leaders to prepare earlier than ever before for seasonal pressures. We’re boosting capacity with 5,000 more permanent beds, 800 new ambulances, and 10,000 hospital-at-home places as part of our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan, backed by £1 billion of government funding. We also recently announced an extra £200 million in new funding for the NHS during its busiest period. 

The Importance of Patient Outcomes 

What matters to me most is not inputs; it is the outcomes for patients. And, with the help of new technology, we’re making significant progress. Take strokes, for example. We are using artificial intelligence to help clinicians interpret brain scans to diagnose strokes and determine the best treatment for patients affected, helping thousands of people fully recover. And by the end of this year, this technology will be available in all stroke units in England. We’re also enhancing patients’ right to choose by offering people a choice of up to five different healthcare providers – including in the independent sector – following a referral, which could reduce their waiting time.  

I know it can sometimes take too long to roll out new innovations nationally, even when they have been proven to work in local pilots. That’s why I announced a new £30 million fund to speed up the adoption of technology in the NHS. This will enable clinicians to adopt proven technology that can improve patient care, from new tools that detect cancer sooner to innovations that will help people receive treatment in their own homes. 

As general practice is often the first port of call for patients, I’m also ensuring GPs are equipped with new and better technology to tackle the 8 a.m. rush to book an appointment. All practices have now signed up to new digital systems and this year, we’re investing £240 million in modern technology to make sure patients can get through on the phone. We’ve also reached our target of having 26,000 additional primary care staff – including pharmacists and physiotherapists – meaning an increasing range of staff and services supporting patients. We’re also on track to meet our commitment of 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by the end of this parliament, with over 46,000 more in July 2023 compared with September 2019. 

A Long-term Vision For Health

To ensurethe NHS continues to deliver for patients into the future, long-term thinking is essential. That’s exactly what we are doing with our NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which will deliver the largest-ever expansion in training. It’s the first time in the history of the NHS that a government has set out a plan for the next 15 years for recruiting and training doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other vital staff, backed by over £2.4 billion. We’re already delivering on this plan by making additional medical school places available at several new medical schools from next September, a year early, and alongside harnessing technology, we will improve care and save staff time. 

It is vital people have confidence they can access the care they need when they need it, regardless of where they live, and this has never been more important than now, with the pandemic significantly impacting waiting lists. To speed up access, we have opened 123 community diagnostic centres – one-stop shops that deliver tests, scans, and checks closer to people’s homes – with over five million additional scans delivered, and we’re on track to meet our target of opening 160 by March 2025 by partnering with the independent sector. We are also continuing to expand the number of surgical hubs, with 94 now open, helping to increase and protect capacity for operations. 

This work has, however, been hindered by the continued relentless strike action by the British Medical Association. I have worked constructively to resolve disputes in other parts of the service – following an agreement between the Government and a majority of unions, more than one million workers on the Agenda for Change contract have already received pay rises backdated to April and a number of non-pay elements were agreed as part of the deal to support the career development and well-being of NHS staff.  

I hope doctors follow suit and I urge the BMA to end its strike action. Doctors have received a fair and reasonable pay rise – as recommended by the independent pay review body, which means doctors who started their hospital training this year are receiving a 10.3 per cent pay increase, the average junior doctor getting 8.8 per cent and consultants receiving 6 per cent, alongside generous reforms to their pensions – the BMA’s number one ask.  

Building a Stronger NHS 

I am determined to build a stronger NHS for the next generation. While it is important to look at the long-term staffing, we also need to ease the more fundamental burden of demand on the NHS, which requires more preventative care to stop people having to go to hospital in the first place. Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer – causing around one in four cancer deaths in the UK and 64,000 in England alone – and costing the economy and wider society £17 billion each year in England. That’s why the Prime Minister announced plans to raise the smoking age by one year every year so that anyone 14 years old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and they and their generation can grow up smoke-free. And, although vaping is a useful tool to assist in quitting smoking, it carries the risks of harm and addiction. We’ve seen youth vaping triple in the last three years, so it’s important to address the appeal and availability of vapes to children, which is why we are looking at measures such as restricting flavours, regulating packaging, regulating point of sale displays, and considering restricting disposable vapes. 

Elsewhere, we’re taking action to boost the health and well-being of women and girls for generations to come. Over a year on from publishing the first-ever, government-led Women’s Health Strategy, more than 370,000 women have benefitted from cheaper hormone replacement therapy, new women’s health hubs are opening up across the country, and we have created a dedicated women’s health area on the NHS website so patients can get important information about their health. 

All of this will help ensure NHS patients across the country can benefit from world-class healthcare, supported by a highly-skilled workforce and harnessing the latest tech – all backed by our record investment.