CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Finance and Accountancy, believes the NHS is taking a risk by initiating medium-term integrated care planning without first ensuring members of sustainability transformation partnerships (STPs) have a thorough understanding of their financial outlook.
While the planning approach set out on Tuesday by the chief executives of NHS England and NHS Improvement provides welcome clarity on the timetable for STPs to formulate their medium-term plans, without the financial architecture firmly in place this will be a real challenge.
CIPFA Policy Manager Health and Social Care, Dr Eleanor Roy, said: “It would appear that lessons have not been learnt from the ‘difficult birth’ of STPs, where local government and other partner engagement was limited due to the tight timescales set for plans.
"Although it is good to see the approach setting out calls for wide engagement and a place-based approach, the timescales and uncertainty involved mean they risk making the same mistakes all over again. There must be a considered and methodical approach to this kind of planning work.”
ENDS
For any media enquiries please contact Liam Macandrew on T: 020 7543 5703 or E: liam.macandrew@cipfa.org