Advocacy and Campaigns February 2022 update
NHS England Backlog Plan
Following our meeting in December with the advisor on the backlog, the UK Government recently published its plans to tackle the waiting list in planned care in England. The Association publicly responded to the Plan, particularly welcoming proposals to deliver more surgical hubs, which should help ease some of the pressure and build resilience in services. We said, however, it remains disappointing to not have an accompanying to address workforce gaps that have been a major factor in the backlog growing to record levels. Without a workforce strategy, we said that that the laudable aims of the plan will not be met without potentially undermining patient safety. You can read the full statement here.
NHS Scotland Decarbonisation Plan
Following the publication of the Scottish Government’s plan to decarbonise the health service, the Association responded to the consultation on the proposals. We welcomed the aim to transform the NHS into a net zero service, and pushed for more to be done on issues such as the supply chain, advising that a mandatory environmental weighting on procurement decisions should be put in place. Similarly, we argued for greater clinical involvement in environmental decision making across the NHS. We will be publishing our response in due course.
Clinical negligence consultation
The UK Government have set up a new consultation on their new proposals to change the process for clinical negligence claims in England and Wales, and introduce a mandatory fixed recoverable costs scheme.
You can read the full consultation document here. It sets out a proposed definition for claims falling within the scheme, the establishment of the “twin-track” approach to “enable simpler, less contentious cases to progress more quickly to resolution” by detailing criteria and processes for allocating claims to a light and standard track.
We are seeking views from members to help us shape the Association’s response to the consultation. If you would like to have your say, please check out the thread on the Association’s Community platform, where you can join in on the conversation. Simply log in to Community via our website, using your usual log-in. If you have trouble accessing the forum, please contact us at [email protected]
External meetings
The team has continued to support the Association President in his external meetings. In February Mike Nathanson met with directors of the National Clinical Excellence Awards to discuss the proposed changes to the scheme, Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan to discuss taxation on pensions as a barrier to anaesthetic retention, and an official from the Scottish Government to discuss anaesthetic recruitment, particularly training places.
We continue to approach key external stakeholders to support the President in representing members’ interests.
If you are interested to hear more about any of the above pieces of work, or have any questions, please do get in touch with Colton Richards, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager: [email protected]