Delayed patients can choose private healthcare - Sajid Javid

Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced how the reforms will hand greater control and choice to patients over their care in an announcement on Tuesday (March 8).

The changes include giving patients more choice if waiting times are long, the expansion of personalised care and health budgets and the increased use of the NHS app.

Mr Javid is set to say: “Those are the long-term challenges the NHS must adapt to: changing demographics and disease; changing technology and expectations; and unsustainable finances.

“Taken together, it’s clear we were always going to come to a crossroads: a point where we must choose between endlessly putting in more and more money, or reforming how we do healthcare.

“There were major challenges before the pandemic.

“Pressures in social care were rising substantially too.

“But without the pandemic, the Covid backlogs, an even more stretched workforce and other new pressures, that choice might have been many years down the line.

“The shock of Covid and the urgent need for recovery has brought us to this crossroads right now.

“I choose reform.”

Read more: Thousands of County Durham patients waiting for routine treatment

Health Secretary Sajid Javid. Picture: PA

From April the Health and Social Care Levy will come into force, raising almost £36 billion over the next three years for health and social care services.

By the end of this year, all patients who have been waiting for 18 months or more will be contacted to discuss the choices they have about changing provider.

Over four million people are set to benefit from the expansion of personalised care, giving them more choice and control.

The NHS also aims to get 75 per cent of all adults in England using the app by March 2024, making it easier for people to book appointments, communicate with health providers and see test results.

There will also be the rolling out of electronic records to 90 per cent of trusts by December 2023 and 80 per cent of social care providers by March 2024.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “As the NHS recovers services and addresses the Covid-19 backlogs that have inevitably built up during the pandemic, these measures will support the work of the NHS Long Term Plan – giving more patients greater choice and control over their own health.

“The pandemic has shown us what can be achieved when we work together across health, social and wider community services and, taken with the reforms set out in the Health and Care Bill, these actions will help to ensure patients and their families are firmly in the driving seat when it comes to making decisions about their care.”

Read more: Visiting restrictions eased at County Durham hospitals

The new measures in detail:

Enhancing patients’ right to choose: Patients will be offered more choice and know average waiting times at the point of referral. Those waiting the longest will be contacted by the NHS to be given the opportunity to change provider to reduce their wait. The NHS will support patients with travel costs if feasible and will engage with the independent sector so all options available. By the end of this year, all patients that have been waiting for 18 months or more will be contacted to discuss the choices they have about changing provider.

Expanding the number of people benefitting from personalised care: Over 4 million people are set to benefit by 2024 from the expansion of personalised care, empowering people to manage their health conditions and have more choice and control over their care. This can include social prescribing, care and support plans and personal health budgets. This expansion follows the NHS exceeding its target of 2.5 million people two years earlier than planned.

Expanding personal health budgets: Going beyond the existing target of 200,000 people benefitting from a personal health budget by 2024, giving people and their carers more choice and control over their own care. In addition, exploring the introduction of legal rights to a joint funded health and social care budget.

Increasing use of the NHS App to help people manage their health: The NHS has a target of 75 per cent of all adults in England using the NHS app by March 2024, making it easier for people to book appointments, communicate with their health provider, see test results and get advice to manage their health and wellbeing  As part of this, the first ever comprehensive Digital Health Plan will be published in the spring. It builds on initiatives from the pandemic, such as virtual wards where COVID-19 patients were monitored at home with their loved ones, which the NHS aims to expand across the country.

Rolling out electronic records to 90% of trusts by December 2023 and 80% of social care providers by March 2024: The increased use of electronic records will allow staff to know immediately which doctors a patient has already seen, which medication they are on, and which conditions they have already been diagnosed with. Currently 40 per cent of social care providers have introduced electronic records and around 79 per cent of NHS trusts.

Raising awareness of the ‘Shared Lives’ scheme: The scheme matches someone who needs care, for example adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems or other needs, with an approved carer and sees them living or staying with them. To date, 9,000 people are supported by the scheme in England and the Social Care White Paper announced up to £30 million to help embed innovations like this.

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