Biggest NHS upheaval in more than a decade

The NHS is instructed to focus on lifestyle changes as well as treating illnesses under new government plans – which could result in ministers taking control of health care.

Ministers are concerned about the increase in diseases linked to poor diet and sedentary lifestyle, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, a leaked document shows.

She admits that smoking rates have fallen in recent years, but warns that the UK’s growing and aging population is suffering from longer-term illnesses.

Health leaders will not only be tasked with treating diseases like cancer, but also helping prevent them by encouraging people to be more active.

The draft policy paper leaked to Health Policy Insight also shows that Boris Johnson has plans to reverse controversial reforms of the NHS England implemented under the Health and Social Care Act of 2012.

Ministers reportedly plan to centralize on-duty decision-making and reduce the role of the private sector to give the government the power to block hospitals from closing and override bosses in what may be the biggest healthcare reform in a decade.

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said today the reforms could be a “positive” move towards “connected care”.

The NHS is instructed to focus on lifestyle changes as well as treating illnesses as part of the new government plans

He told BBC Breakfast: “Last year was the first year in history that there were more elderly people over 65 than under five and that means they need a lot more connected care.”

“The structures need to be improved to make this possible and I think that is the aim of these reforms, so I think they could be very positive.”

He later added on BBC Radio 4 Today that the reforms would have to include a “proper accountability mechanism” similar to Ofsted as the school inspector.

“How do we ensure that the NHS continues to be held accountable for these huge sums of public money, people will certainly want to ask,” he said.

Fiona Lemmens, chairwoman of the Liverpool NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, told Times Radio that it is a “challenge” for NHS reforms to be considered at the same time the service is addressing the coronavirus pandemic.

She added: “We should always try to improve. So I would strive for continuous improvement rather than massive overhauls. ‘

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, told City AM, “Ministers need to explain why reorganization is the top priority when 190,000 people wait more than 12 months for treatment and cancer survival rates radically improve.”

The plans are complemented by separate measures to limit junk food advertising and the placing of calorie labels on alcohol.

It could also give the government the power to put fluoride in water to prevent tooth decay, which in the past only councils could do.

It will return some powers from Sir Simon Stevens, CEO of NHS England, to Matt Hancock, the Minister of Health

Ministers are increasingly frustrated that local leaders are resistant to the addition of fluoride due to budgetary constraints, The Times reports.

The White Paper – which would abolish the forced privatization of the NHS – states that the health and care system must continue to “adapt and evolve” to meet the challenges of modern life, including Covid-19.

It shows local NHS services are being directed to work more closely with councils to better connect health and social care, as they did during the pandemic.

The document states: “One in three patients hospitalized as an emergency has five or more health problems, up from one in ten a decade ago.

“While smoking rates may decrease, diabetes, obesity, dementia and mental health problems are increasing.”

It calls for care that “not only focuses on the treatment of certain diseases, but also on lifestyle, healthy behavior and prevention”.

Health leaders will not only be tasked with treating diseases like cancer, but also helping prevent them by encouraging people to be more active.  Pictured: NHS chief Simon Stevens

Health leaders will not only be tasked with treating diseases like cancer, but also helping prevent them by encouraging people to be more active. Pictured: NHS chief Simon Stevens

New legislation will remove the red tape associated with repeated tenders for contracts so that more time and money can be redirected to the frontline services.

It will return some powers from Sir Simon Stevens, the chairman of the board of NHS England, to Matt Hancock, the secretary of health.

The document states: “A merged NHS England and NHS Improvement will be put on a legal basis and referred to as NHS England.

“This is accompanied by the increased authority of the government to issue instructions to the newly merged body.”

The paper leaked to Health Policy Insight said the Covid pandemic showed why better links between health and care are “essential”.

It adds, “Our proposals will endure some of the innovations where Covid-19 has forced the system to improvise new and better ways of working.

“Bureaucracy matters, but it shouldn’t stifle innovation. We will put pragmatism at the heart of the system. ‘

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Welfare said: “We do not comment on leaks.

“The NHS set out the need for new laws to support the changing health and care sector in the NHS long-term plan, and last summer the Minister of Health and Welfare outlined how we must apply the lessons of this pandemic as we continue to do so .” to plan.

“From reducing bureaucracy to promoting the integration of health and care services, we are rightly considering where changes are necessary in order to build better.

“All details will be announced in due course.”

An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS has come together to come up with practical proposals that will make it easier for health and care services to work together to deliver the best possible care for patients, without the bureaucracy and fragmentation that began in 2012 implied are law.

“These proposals were publicly set out in the NHS Long-Term Plan in 2019 and evolved last year, drawing on what the best local health systems are already doing.”

Health and Social Care Act 2012: How Andrew Lansley’s Reforms Marked the NHS’s Largest Reorganization to Date

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 was introduced under the coalition government of David Cameron, promoted by then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

The reforms, which are to be largely reversed, were considered the “greatest revolution in the NHS since its inception” and were among the most controversial of the coalition government.

The act removed the health minister’s responsibility for the health care that post had held since the NHS was founded in 1948.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 was introduced under the coalition government of David Cameron, spearheaded by then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (pictured)

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 was introduced under the coalition government of David Cameron, spearheaded by then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (pictured)

It did away with Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities and instead transferred between £ 60 billion and £ 80 billion in “picking” from the abolished PCTs to several hundred Clinical Commissioning Groups.

These were partly carried out by general practitioners in England, but also opened the door to private service providers.

The restructuring also created a new facility, NHS England, to manage the health service while delivering healthy lifestyle programs to town halls.

However, the reforms met with significant opposition from opposition MPs and professional associations representing health workers.

In a letter to the Times, British Medical Association Chairman Hamish Meldrum, Royal College of Nursing Board Chairman Peter Carter, and union leaders Unison and Unite said the speed and scale of reforms could undermine patient care, preferring cost over quality.

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