NHS should ‘tear up the outpatient model'
The NHS in England should 'tear up' the way it delivers care at outpatient appointments, the head of the service has said.
Around 130,000,000 outpatient appointments – procedures or appointments which take place in hospitals or clinics but do not require an overnight stay – take place in the NHS in England every year.
The majority of people on the NHS waiting list are waiting for outpatient appointments.
An estimated 7.42 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of March, relating to 6.25 million patients, according to official figures.
The latest performance figures for the NHS in England are due to be published on Thursday.
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, told the NHS ConfedExpo conference that the service should take 'big leaps' such as 'tearing up the outpatient model' and 'tearing up the frustrations about technology' and 'tearing up the multiple touch points for patients when it should be one'.
And Dr Penny Dash, chairwoman of NHS England, told delegates: 'There are seven and a half million people on the waiting list, half of them waiting more than 18 weeks, and the majority of those people waiting for an outpatient appointment.
'Surely we can fix outpatients to help bring down the waiting list.'
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'Outpatient services should and could be transformed with most checks and follow-ups done in neighbourhoods or remotely.'
Meanwhile, Sir Jim said the NHS has 'lost its way' on quality of care, as he told delegates that the forthcoming 10-year plan for health, which is to be published in July, will 'focus on quality'.
'Neighbourhood care – I think that part of the plan is still a really big standout for me,' he said.
'The focus on quality, I think it's really welcome – we have lost our way a little bit on quality coming out of Covid, and again, looking at quality in the round and not just safety.'
But he said that the NHS would move on from the 'over-prescription centrally' and the 'labyrinthine approval processes' to give local health leaders more freedom.
Dr Dash added: 'We do need to have a comprehensive strategy for quality.
'We've had a big focus on safety, rightly, over the last 10 years, but that has been a bit at the expense of patient experience and also effectiveness. We need to regroup, set out that strategy.'
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