Radical reforms could see hospitals taking over GP surgeries and family doctors running hospitals, under new plans to reform the NHS in England.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the forthcoming 10-year health plan would also see “much of what’s done in a hospital today, will be done on the high street”.
He stressed that the government was “not embarking on another top-down reorganisation” of the health service.
The plan is expected to be published in July.
Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, Mr Streeting said: “The NHS should not be bound by traditional expectations of how services should be arranged.
“I am open to our strongest acute trusts providing not just community services, as many already do, but also primary care.
“Whatever services will enable them to meet the needs of their patients in a more integrated and efficient way.
“Indeed, I would hope that those old-fashioned labels – acute, community – become increasingly meaningless.
“Likewise, there is no reason why successful GPs should not be able to run local hospitals, or why nurses should not be leading neighbourhood health services.”
Mr Streeting talked about the “jeopardy” facing the NHS, adding: “Just as public satisfaction has plunged to its lowest level on record, major political parties have begun to question the very existence of a publicly funded universal healthcare system free at the point of need.
“And I can almost feel them willing us on to fail, because if all of us fail in our mission to turn the NHS around, the vultures on the populist rivals swoop in for the kill.
“The NHS is in a fight for its life but nothing I have experienced in my first 11 months in office have shaken my conviction or confidence that this is a fight we will win.”
Meanwhile he spoke about the spending review, likening himself to the survivor in the popular book series, The Hunger Games.
“Yesterday’s spending review was a vital moment on that journey,” he said.
“There have been broadly two sorts of reactions to this. The first, mainly from the media and the public – ‘£29 billion is a hell of a lot of money’; the second, mainly from our think tank friends – ‘£29 billion is nowhere near enough’. The truth is, both are right.
“It is objectively a substantial funding settlement that puts wind in our sails. But investment alone isn’t enough.
“There is no fix to the NHS’s problems that simply pours more money into a broken system.
“It is only through the combination of investment and reform that we will succeed in getting the NHS back on its feet and making make it fit for the future.”
He told delegates at the conference: “Despite my best efforts at the Cabinet yesterday morning before the spending review announcement, to put the blame on John Healey the Defence Secretary for the squeeze on other government departments, none of my colleagues were buying.
“In fact, one permanent secretary once referred to me as the Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games.
“We’re a Labour Government – the NHS is all of our priorities, and there isn’t a single person sat with me around the Cabinet table who doesn’t value what you’re doing, doesn’t underestimate the scale of the task that we have ahead of us, and they are all rooting for us to succeed, every single one of them.”
Commenting on the speech, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “The Secretary of State is right that the divides between acute, primary, community are already being broken down, supported by the work of integrated care boards.
“Redesigning services is essential to the future of the NHS and many providers are already breaking down their traditional silos to offer patients truly personalised and integrated care.”
He added: “The extra funding announced at the spending review is very welcome and, as Mr Streeting says, it is both a lot of money and not enough.
“Many of our members have warned they will not hit the interim target, with only one in two confident they will achieve the 65% elective care interim target by March 2026.
“That is why redesigning services is so essential – the combination of investment and reform – so that we can achieve the Government’s three ambitions.”
