After two years at NHS Improvement, what does Jim Mackey think should be the health service’s next moves?
Rationalising regulators and commissioners could save £1bn, NHS Improvement head Jim Mackey has suggested after leaving his role as chief executive of NHS Improvement.
Mr Mackey gave a hard hitting interview to Health Service Journal editors to mark his return to his established role as chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust.
He suggested the £1bn saving could be achieved by cutting numbers of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and by merging NHS Improvement and NHS England.
He warned that sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) and plans to establish accountable care are far too complicated.
At a provider and local system level, answering to multiple regulators often created a chaotic situation, with managers having to field many calls even when they were close to achieving the national four-hour accident and emergency target.
Rather than setting up accountable care organisations, what was needed was to work out what is required in a local system, including oversight and support. This he said would make it possible to do some things once rather than three or four times across the national bodies.
Mr Mackey also said national leaders should focus on alternatives to the existing tariff payment system, which he said was out of line with actual costs. NHS Improvement and NHS England should concentrate on developing new payment systems.
Further information
HSJ: ‘Ruthless’ rationalisation of regulators and CCGs could save £1bn, says Mackey
Website: NHS England
Website: NHS Improvement
Website: Northumbria Healthcare FT