Congratulations to the new Secretary of State

The letter highlights how NHS providers are delivering in challenging times and outlines what more is needed to address pressures.

The letter covers:

• Workforce issues including pay disputes and pay awards.
• Safety and quality of care.
• NHS infrastructure.
• Public health.

Dear Secretary of State,

Congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

We have valued our discussions with you in your shadow role and look forward to supporting you further now. We are keen to meet you as soon as possible to begin working with you on addressing your immediate concerns and long-term priorities.

NHS Providers’ members – comprising 100% of the NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance trusts in England – are the key frontline organisations responsible for implementing the government’s public commitments on the health service.

NHS foundation trusts and trusts account for £124bn of annual expenditure and employ 1.5 million people. We work closely with them to understand how patient needs are changing and how they are responding, along with the challenges they face and the support they would welcome.

This unique relationship with trusts gives us an unparalleled view of what is happening at the NHS frontline, and places us in a unique position to offer you support and insight as you and your team develop robust answers to the strategic questions facing health and care services.

Over the course of the election, you set out a vision of building an NHS fit for the future – one that is responsive and effective, meeting the current and future health needs of patients and communities. It is a vision that we share, and we are committed to working with you to deliver it.

We have a track record in working constructively and successfully with ministerial teams and officials across government and the arm’s length bodies.

Looking ahead and enabling high-quality patient care Trust leaders are committed to delivering for patients and for the populations they serve. They are doing all that they can to achieve value for money for taxpayers and are at the heart of many of the innovative solutions across the NHS.

Vital gains have been made across cancer, urgent and emergency care and elective targets, with activity higher than pre-pandemic levels in many areas.

However, patient demand and acuity are outpacing NHS capacity. We see the worst implications of this in those services where quality of care has seriously fallen below what patients need and should be able to expect.

Urgent and emergency care, maternity services, and mental health inpatient care must be front of mind. It is clear that new approaches are needed not only to enable consistently safe, high-quality patient care but to assure you, as Health and Social Care Secretary, of that care. We set out below areas that need your early attention: creating a thriving workforce; delivering safety and quality of care; building an NHS infrastructure that works; and recognising health as a public good.

Creating a thriving workforce People are the backbone of the NHS and there is a wealth of evidence to show that a happy and healthy workforce leads to better patient outcomes. Nurturing a thriving workforce, focusing on staff wellbeing, morale, retention and making the NHS a great place to work is essential.

The work underway to improve the equality, diversity and inclusivity of the NHS and tackling discrimination is essential. Trusts are focusing on what they can do locally to support wellbeing and skills development. Their efforts here can only go so far without sustained national support to reduce the vacancy rate and settle the question of pay, terms and conditions.

There are two immediate priorities:

• Resolving the junior doctor pay dispute
• Early announcement of the public sector pay awards for this year

Finally on workforce, implementing the long-term workforce plan, to develop the workforce, is key to achieving “the left shift” in care. This is critical for the whole health and care workforce, but we need a particular focus on community and mental health services.

Safety and quality of care

Supporting the right cultures, and enabling the right behaviours to support safety, quality and improvement, is one of the biggest and most important challenges in healthcare.

We know quality of care is greatly enhanced by building a closer connection between senior leaders and frontline staff, empowering staff, and involving patients in decisions about their care.