Can the NHS reform itself? MPs on the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) say it doesn’t know how to. It has published a stinging report this morning, accusing both NHS England (NHSE) and the department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of ‘complacency’ and blaming external factors for the poor financial position of the health service. In return, the NHS has lashed out at what it calls a ‘flawed’ report which contains ‘basic factual inaccuracies’.
The select committee report complains that the health service is relying on overly optimistic projections of the improvements to productivity that it can achieve, and that it ‘was unable to convince us that it has a detailed plan to achieve the promised productivity gains’. The NHS claims in response that ‘we regularly discuss the challenges with productivity at our board meetings’, and is open about the challenges of meeting the ambitious targets.
It is unfair to blame just the NHS for a pretty uninspiring effort at reforming
This is not the most reassuring counterpoint with which to start debunking the report.
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