I am not keen to hand administrative work to clinicians, but I recognise that there is a role for ensuring that senior clinicians are present and in charge of activity in wards. That is the experience I am seeing as I visit acute hospitals around the country: senior members of staff, normally coming out of nursing staff —so they are a matron or other senior nursing officer—are responsible for what happens on their ward.
My hon. Friend says that an independent review might be appropriate, and I say gently to him that we think that the right way to drive improvement across the NHS and help position it for the challenges of the future is to back the plans prepared by the leadership of NHS England with colleagues from across the system through the five year forward view. This is the NHS’s own plan for change and it lays out how the NHS can transform services and improve standards of care while building a more responsive modern health service. We are backing this plan, enabling the NHS to deliver Government objectives including seven-day services and improved access to cancer treatments and mental health services. We agree that the answer to the challenges faced by the NHS lies in modernising services and keeping people well and independent for longer.
The NHS is using the sustainability and transformation partnerships mentioned by my hon. Friend to deliver that vision through transformation across local areas.
These are clinically led, locally driven and can deliver real improvements for patients. The five year forward view also announced the development of new care models and we are already seeing the results.
My hon. Friend referred to the announcement yesterday about the first allocation of capital funding for the most advanced STP areas, including Dorset, which covers his constituency. It is fortuitous that the largest single beneficiary of capital through the STP allocation was Dorset, and what a great day for him to secure this debate and give an albeit somewhat guarded welcome to that significant capital injection. I am aware that he has a number of issues with how that money will be spent.