Outside experts from the private sector and “across the political spectrum” will be brought in to shake up the NHS as Health Secretary Wes Streeting warns the health service must embrace reform in return for £22.6bn in extra funding.
Mr Streeting will signal a major shake-up of NHS management in a speech on Wednesday following the appointment of former Health Secretary Alan Milburn as his top adviser.
However, there will be no change at the very top after the Health Secretary stressed his “total confidence” in Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard.
Mr Milburn was Health Secretary from 1999 to 2003 and reports that he was set for a return were confirmed yesterday when his appointment as Lead Non-Executive Member to the board of the Department of Health and Social Care was made official.
A huge funding boost for the NHS was announced in October’s Budget but Mr Milburn warned that managers cannot continue to demand more funding. He said: “People have got to stop thinking that the answer to the NHS problem is more and more money.”
Mr Milburn said: “Having spent three decades working in health policy, I have never seen the NHS in a worse state. Big reforms will be needed to make it fit for the future.”
A source said: “On Wednesday, Wes Streeting will set out a package of tough reforms to the way the NHS is run. The plans will make sure that every penny of the extra investment announced in the Budget is well spent and delivers better care for patients.”
It follows an inquiry by consultant surgeon Lord Darzi which concluded the health service was in “critical condition”.
The source said: “Wes’s speech next week will give the NHS its marching orders for next year, where we want to get to and what we need to change to get there.
“This is ahead of the 10-year plan next year which will reform the way the NHS provides healthcare – from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.”
