The ‘world’s biggest quango,’ is no more. Sir Keir Starmer’s recent announcement that NHS England (NHSE) will be scrapped, means control of healthcare will transition back to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
As this week’s In Focus attests, there aren’t many from the optical sector shedding a tear over its demise. But as much as the buck will now stop with the government when it comes to how the NHS is run, the optometric sector’s bodies must also step up to the plate and deliver. For the profession and for their members.
The hard work put in by the sector’s associations and lobbyists in recent years to promote the role of optometry in primary care to key figures, in opposition and now government, needs to be capitalised upon. On the face of it, there seems to be real potential for a reset that can create lasting change in how eye care is delivered, not just a few extra quid on GOS.
Scrapping NHSE undoubtedly presents opportunities for improved patient care and operating efficiencies, but I do have concerns as to how everything will play out, especially when it comes to the eye care sector. The main concern is that integrated care boards have been asked to cut costs, and by significant percentages.
Tasking someone with cutting costs by 50% by October 2025, as incoming chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has done, can create a path of least resistance approach where costly services are easier to cut.
I’m also slightly dubious as to whether a full-on dismantling of NHSE was in the plans for Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting.
Less than two months ago, Streeting said he could spend time in parliament and taxpayers’ money changing job titles, transferring over staff back into DHSC and it ‘would not make a single difference to the patient interest.’
What has changed in that time?
