The narrative that the NHS is failing is becoming a real danger to the sustainability of services, NHS Providers’ deputy chief executive has said.
Saffron Cordery today warned that the conversation around if the service was fit-for-purpose was necessary but was ‘overtly political’ and should instead focus on how to develop new models of care.
Speaking today (25 April) at a Westminster Health Forum event, Ms Cordery flagged that NHS investment has been decreasing over the last decade, adding that the narrative of a failing NHS had become ‘more mainstream’.
She said: ‘There’s a real danger in terms of the sustainability of the NHS because it starts to reinforce the notion that that the current system that we have just is no longer fit for purpose.
‘We do know that is a really important conversation that we need to have, but we need to take it away from the overtly political narrative and look at how we might see new and different models of care being developed.’
Her comments come in light of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the health service, which has caused the narrative to ‘sharpen’.
Ms Cordery highlighted that it was even more crucial for the NHS to prove itself as a sound investment with clear social and economic benefits, particularly given the direct link between health inequality and wealth and deprivation.
On the cost-of-living’s direct impact on the NHS, she pointed to industrial action, with staff looking for pay rises in-line with inflation, capital investment, and the ‘short-termism’ the ‘political paralysis’ has brought about for NHS funding.
