The State of the Nation: BDA AR Conference
Back in May, I attended the national BDA Accredited Rep Conference. This blog post is based on a talk by Martin Jones at the conference.
So what is the state of our nation and NHS....?
70 years anniversary of the NHS!
Our national pride and envy of the world.... our National Health Service was 70 years old this year! Something to celebrate? So if it's been going on this long, there must be something going right?
The NHS is one of the largest employers in the world since it's inception in 1948. But how will the NHS survive the following challenges?
Hypothecated Tax
Hypothecated tax is a tax collected solely to fund the NHS. This would be an additional tax for the public to pay and in general, there has been widespread support for it not only within the public, but also across political parties.
The only resistance is the treasury who would be responsible for collecting the tax. Is this something that will be enforced in the future?
Brexit and Employment Challenges
We are facing a recruitment crisis within the NHS which is down to many reasons:
- Fewer nurses in training due to removal of bursaries
- There are more leavers than joiners within the NHS
- Brexit may have an impact with again more EU leavers than joiners
- We have an aging workforce, with senior staff approaching retirement age without a younger generation to replace them
- Nurses are being pulled off research, special projects and admin work to plug clinical gaps
Accountable Care Organisations
These organisations (previously STPs) are local organisations who ally together to collaborate in delivering health and social care rather than compete. These can include hospitals, community organisations, GPs or third sector organisations. They lead in commissioning and work with local authorities in improving health and social care. These can potentially sit across a large geographical area.
Privatisation
Increasingly in the NHS private companies are delivering services across many sections. This includes for profit organisations (e.g. Virgin) and also Social Enterprises (see a previous blog post to find out more about Social Enterprises).
Private companies have increased from 7.3% to 7.7% of the health and social care budget this year. The increase has mostly been in community and mental health services, which includes the community dental services. Many CDS services are run by social enterprises or private companies (CDS CIC, Virgin etc.) Is this a good thing? I'm not sure, but it is certainly a change which we need to adapt to.
AFC Pay Rise
The Agenda for Change (AFC) unions have recently agreed to the offer of pay increase the department for health have suggested. The BDA and BMA are also negotiating for a pay increase so us dentists will have to watch this space!
What challenges do you think the NHS is facing in modern times? What do you encounter working in the NHS? Let me know in the comments below.
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