Modernisation Agency launched to lead NHS improvements

Citation

(2001), "Modernisation Agency launched to lead NHS improvements", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214eab.005

Modernisation Agency launched to lead NHS improvements

Modernisation Agency launched to lead NHS improvements

In April a new Modernisation Agency was launched in the UK to lead the NHS into a new era of reform and improvement. Launching the Agency, Health Secretary Alan Milburn outlined plans to give those responsible for providing local services the freedom to shape them within a clear national framework of standards and accountability. More power is to be devolved to frontline staff, releasing at least £100 million to patient care.

Achieving this will require major structural changes:

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  By 2004 two thirds of the 99 health authorities will have merged – devolving many of their responsibilities to Primary Care trusts (PCTs) The 30 "strategic health authorities" that remain will cover a larger section of the population.

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  Health authorities will have responsibility devolved to them from the eight NHS regional offices for performance managing the local health care system.

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  The new strategic health authorities will provide the bridge between the Department of Health and local NHS services: brokering solutions to local problems, holding local health services to account and encouraging greater autonomy for NHS Trusts and primary care trusts. The best performing NHS organisations will be invited to bid to run the new strategic health authorities.

Mr Milburn said:

"Over the next few years, all parts of the NHS must be reformed to redesign it around the needs of patients. Patients should have more information, more influence and more power over the services they receive. The balance of power in the NHS will shift decisively in the favour of the patient.

"Devolution to frontline organisations must be matched by devolution within frontline organisations. As the Cancer Service Collaborative programme has proved, successful reform depends on giving clinicians as well as managers the power to reshape services."

The process may give rise to new structures. In cancer care, for example, the country's best cancer networks are already applying to take direct control of local budgets for services spanning prevention through to treatment. In time, the government believes that the country's top cancer specialists will be in charge of the budgets for all cancer patients.