NHS England raises the need for improved inclusion

The NOC appearance of Taryn Harding, senior programme lead primary care strategies NHS England, was very timely, coinciding as it did with the announcement of the NHS’s five-year plan by NHS boss Simon Stevens. Giving the keynote speech, she thanked delegates for their submissions and assured the meeting that all 400 Call to Action (CTA) responses would be taken into account.

She prefaced her response to the optical CTA by pressing the point that the ageing population is putting pressure on the NHS which faces a £30bn shortfall by 2021, but health inequalities still existed and needed to be addressed. To deliver the care within its financial constraints NHS managers would have to think like a patient and act like a taxpayer, she said.