At the time of publication, the NHS Long Term Plan had recently been published, and the drive towards further integration was set to continue with a renewed focus on the ‘triple aim’. This framework had NHS systems, providers, and commissioners prioritise:
Then, COVID-19 emerged, much of the world went into lockdown, and the health and care system found itself in the most challenging position.
In this publication, ‘Journey towards financial sustainability for integrated care systems’, we detail how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing challenges (ageing populations with greater demands for health and care services, workforce shortages, financial pressures, etc.) with new ones (staff sickness, burnout, growing waiting lists, and supply shortages).
Addressing this ever-growing list of compounding challenges is a key focus of health and care systems but this can only be achieved together. New and emerging frameworks for partnership working seek to align the health and care sector towards addressing mutual pressures and, underpinned by a future new legislative regime, should provide revitalised focus.
In this report, we tackle an issue we know many systems across the country are facing; how can you balance operational recovery with financial sustainability given the extensive pressures, whilst also capitalising on new opportunities and different ways of working.
We outline the key success factors which we believe are pivotal in working together to begin the journey of recovery as a system.
These include:
We ask what the key questions systems should be asking themselves in order to plan for this journey; outlining why these questions are important, and providing some tangible steps systems can take in order to further progress these areas. These actions to consider are aligned to the key success factors, and include:
And we provide an indicative timeline, covering the short, medium, and long term periods which should aid systems in determining where they are, and where they need to go next.
Fundamentally, this journey will be challenging and will take both trust, transparency, and time to develop. All partners from across the health and care sector must come together and work together in order to achieve the bold ambition of balancing operational recovery with financial sustainability, whilst ensuring high-quality, patient-focussed services is maintained as a top priority.
Director, Value Creation & Realisation, PwC United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)7841 570653