The vast majority of funding for the Sustainability and Transformation Fund will be used to cover NHS deficits, leaving little left over to ‘transform services’ as outlined in the Five Year Forward View, the King’s Fund has announced.
According to the King’s fund, £2.1 billion has been allocated this year to a Sustainability and Transformation Fund. This money is supposed to be used to enable the NHS to transform services in the way set out in the Five Year Forward View. However, despite this commitment, £1.8 billion of this funding is being used to reduce deficits among NHS providers, leaving just £300 million to invest in new services in 2016/17. ‘By ring-fencing £1.8 billion for the next two years to reduce deficits, national NHS bodies are effectively leaving the NHS without the investment needed to deliver the transformation of services set out in the Forward View,’ said Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund.
In it's report on the progress of implementing the Five Year Forward View, the King’s Fund reported that NHS leaders are ‘preoccupied’ with sustainability due to the pressures on health and social care. It states that there is evidence that NHS organisations are missing key targets for patient care. 'The future of the NHS depends on being able to implement the changes outlined in the Forward View,’ concluded Mr Ham. ‘New care models hold out the prospect of moderating rising levels of demand, including through better integration of health and social care and more investment in community services to provide alternatives to care in hospitals or care homes. These models are still under development, but the most advanced hold out real promise.