Waste of time and money in hospitals makes you want to cry, NHS England chief says
Dr Penny Dash, chair for NHS England, said there is poor management in hospitals which means the NHS 'absolutely' wastes too much money.
The former hospital doctor and management consultant, who was appointed in March to help Health Secretary Wes Streeting's reform of the NHS and oversee the abolishment of NHS England, also said that erratic care across England – which leads to the poorest people receiving some of the worst treatment – is a 'stain on our country'.
Speaking two days after the publication of the government's 10-year plan for the NHS, she told The Sunday Times: 'We've got some GP practices where less than 2 per cent of people with diabetes get the right care but in other GP practices it's 80 per cent. That cannot be right.
'I think it is a stain on our country that we have some of the poorest communities receiving the poorest care. We've got fewer GPs per head of population in the parts of the country that need them most than we do in the parts of the country that need them least.'
According to the paper, Dr Dash will use an upcoming report on patient safety, due to be published on Monday, to highlight that £6 billion a year is being lost due to poor disease management where best practice is not followed.
Addressing stories of patients suffering and missing appointments due to admin errors, Dr Dash said 'you just want to cry'. She added: 'There is poor management — we have operating theatres that don't start on time and that has a really high cost.'
A major feature of the 10-year plan was ambitions to use ambient AI to help cut the time spent by staff on admin duties.
She added that there were empty buildings not being used and still costing money to run, with a lot of the buildings only being used 30 to 40 hours a week.
When asked by The Sunday Times if she thinks the NHS wastes too much money, she said: 'Absolutely. I do.' But she added that 'all other healthcare systems and businesses' also waste too much money.
The NHS chief also pointed out that having patients forced to go to A&E as the only place open was 'ridiculous'.
She said: 'We have this rather ridiculous system at the moment where the only place with the doors open and the lights on seven days a week is A&E. So, not surprisingly, if you really want to be seen, you go to A&E.'
She explained the NHS would need to change the way money is used by the service, shifting money into community-based care instead of hospitals. This was a key element of the 10-year plan.
'No one wants to see their mum in a hospital bed for the last few weeks of her life when she doesn't need to be in that hospital bed and we could have looked after her better in her own bed with lots of care and support in the community,' she said.
'But at the moment it doesn't really matter financially to anybody, whether you do that or not. The reality is, as well as being pretty grim for your mum, it costs an enormous amount of money. Hospitals are really expensive places.'
This year, the NHS faces major reform and savings demands from ministers, with commissioners forced to reduce costs by 50 per cent and hospitals making hundreds of staff cuts.
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