17.12.13
NHS England announces tariff adjustment
Hospitals will get £150m to improve patient safety, NHS England has announced, as it publishes changes to the national tariff for healthcare spending.
The money is to come out of CCGs’ usual financial settlement, and will only apply to acute services.
The new rules for NHS funding 2014/15 allow for “local experiments” in price setting, with flexible but transparent local approaches to be encouraged.
NHS England and Monitor have agreed that providers should deliver 4% annual efficiency savings. The national tariff also takes into account rising NHS costs of 2.5%, so on average the prices providers are paid for acute services next year should go down by 1.5%. This will allow trusts to deal with challenges set out by the Francis and Keogh reports earlier this year.
The organisations called for a system that encourages and incentivises the promotion of wellbeing as well as treating illness.
But Labour has raised concerns about changes to the tariff, which could see funding being taken from poorer northern areas to the south, midlands and east of England. It follows suggestions that healthcare spending should be allocated on the basis of areas with the greatest proportion of elderly people in the population, rather than deprivation.
NHS England said the tariff has been adjusted with Monitor to recognise that “some hospitals will incur additional costs”.
Ric Marshall, director of pricing at Monitor said: “The 2014/15 payment system is designed to help commissioners and providers address the key challenges facing NHS care in their localities.
“We are offering them more opportunities to encourage the development of new service models, maintaining incentives to provide care more efficiently and providing greater financial certainty to underpin effective planning for patients.”
Sam Higginson, director of strategic finance at NHS England, said: “This is good news for patients and good news for the NHS. NHS England has worked with Monitor to adjust the price hospitals are paid to treat patients, in recognition that some hospitals will incur additional costs to improve patient safety and care.
“The change to the tariff sits alongside work NHS England is already implementing, and we expect it to be used to ensure all patients are treated with dignity and compassion, every time.”
Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer and national director responsible for patient safety for NHS England added: “Today’s agreement is good news for patients and good news for the NHS. The funding will help hospitals do more to ensure all patients are treated with dignity and compassion, every time. It is important that all our hospitals put patient safety first.
“Whilst it is up to providers to agree how they spend this money, I expect that more nurses will be top of the list for many.
“There has been a big debate about staffing levels in hospitals and we need to ensure we get the right number of nurses, in the right place at the right time. Trusts must ensure every part of the hospital has enough nurses and midwives to give patients the best possible care.”
But Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said: “This is a colossal shift in NHS resources and in NHS thinking. It's a dangerous road to be going down because it breaches a fundamental principle of the NHS that need is the prime consideration.”
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