Doctors have come up with dozens of ways to save money Doctors have suggested dozens of ways the NHS in England can save money and improve care.
Ideas include changing policies on discharging patients, cutting surgical equipment waste and not doing unnecessary procedures
It comes as the health secretary gives his priorities for the NHS, with the quality of care expected to dominate.
Andrew Lansley is expected to include a proposal to fine hospitals if patients are forced to share mixed-sex wards.
Labour ministers floated the same idea almost two years ago but mixed sex wards have proved to be stubbornly persistent.
The NHS in England must find up to £20bn in efficiency savings by 2015.
The list was drawn up by doctors and consultants from seven specialised areas.
It highlights unnecessary procedures carried out across the NHS, the waste of surgical equipment and improving the way patients are referred by GPs.
For example many hospitals have different policies on discharging patients which can mean some people stay in longer than is necessary, leading to extra costs.
“There are huge challenges facing the health service but what is heartening about this report is that there are ways both to save money and improve the care we provide to people”
Hugo Mascie-Taylor NHS Confederation
Surgeons have pointed out that the scare over CJD infection has led to expensive surgical equipment being thrown away after just one use.
The report says the rules used to prevent infection from instruments is not based on reliable evidence.
“They are founded on estimated, notional risks that since implementation have subsequently been revised down. Yet there has been no change in the policy,” the report says.
The report was published by the NHS Confederation, which represents around 95% of the organisations that make up the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The NHS Confederation’s clinical director Hugo Mascie-Taylor said expert suggestions like these need to be taken seriously.
“There are huge challenges facing the health service but what is heartening about this report is that there are ways both to save money and improve the care we provide to people.
“This is the start of an important debate and these ideas need to be considered carefully. The NHS treats millions of people a year and does so with care and professionalism but there are always ways to improve, to do things better and to reduce waste at the same time.”
The report comes as the NHS in England faces increasing financial pressures, not least the need to make up to £20bn in efficiency savings over the next four years.
On Tuesday the Commons Health Select Committee said meeting that target would test the NHS to the limit.
And the government’s reorganisation of the NHS takes another step forward on Wednesday as the health secretary outlines his response to the public consultation on massive reorganisation planned for the NHS in England.
Andrew Lansley and the NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson will also outline what is known as the Operational Framework for Trusts in England, setting their priorities for the coming year.
It is expected that top of the list will be the need to maintain quality as the reform process rolls out.
And the funding for Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 will also be revealed, the last year they will receive a full allocation of money before the reforms begin.
It is widely expected within the health service that PCTs will get a very small increase in their budgets.
That may not reduce the financial pressure on hospitals, which have seen their payment for treatments frozen this financial year.
If the prices paid to hospitals, known as the tariff, do not keep pace with inflation they will continue to be at the sharp end of finding savings in the NHS.
It would increase the pressure to move some types of care out of hospitals and into the community.
At the same time a new report by the think tank Civitas says abolishing PCTs in one go – a key part of the government’s reorganisation of the NHS in England – could damage patient care.
Civitas says getting rid of the trusts could cause delays to treatment and calls for a more “incremental approach” to reform.
The reforms do not affect the health service in Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland, which are devolved to their national administrations.
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