Professor Graham Cookson responds to the Ten Year Health Plan for England.
Earlier today, the UK government unveiled the long-awaited NHS Ten Year Plan.
Commenting on the Plan, Professor Graham Cookson, Chief Executive of the Office of Health Economics, said:
“The hotly anticipated Ten Year Plan, and its focus on prevention, is a welcome step towards recovering a free, accessible, working health service. The holistic approach to health, as demonstrated by community-based health services, including debt advice, employment support and weight management, is especially to be commended: health doesn’t exist in a silo, and nor should healthcare.
The focus on genomics and precision medicine to predict and prevent illness is also an especially bold and necessary step towards a prevention-focused NHS.
The underlying question however is how this will all be funded.
Many of the recommendations in the Ten Year Plan require high upfront costs and sustained financing over multiple funding cycles. The NHS can’t be expected to foot the bill for preventative benefits that might be accrued elsewhere. Innovative financing, including outcomes-based payments, novel contracting mechanisms and a dedicated prevention budget, can help address these concerns.
The NHS’ long term survival is at stake – the Ten Year Plan demonstrates the government’s commitment to invest in its recovery, but in order to truly tackle the existential issues at the heart of the crisis within the NHS, it is critical to rethink the ‘how’ and ‘who’ of its funding, particularly with regards to prevention.”
Notes to Editors
For interviews and further comment, please contact lramanayake@ohe.org