Health+Care is made up of seven conferences, each dedicated to a different specialist area of interest, this year the event had over 400 exhibitors showcasing their products and services.
As part of Health+Care’s Integrated Care programme, Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, delivered an opening keynote address focusing on the current state of the NHS, its successes, its challenges and its future.
Jeremy commended the NHS for doing incredibly well in very challenging times but warned of the challenges ahead. The average age of the population is rising alongside public expectation at a time when resources are strained and care professionals are overwrought. However, Jeremy entreated for faith in the strategy in place and the impact that the extra £8bn in funding, which has been agreed by David Cameron, could have on the healthcare system.
He was eager to dispel certain protracted fallacies that surround the subject of improving health services. He said: “The challenge is not to only ensure health care for everyone, but healthcare of the highest quality for everyone.” Many would argue that a choice must be made between financial discipline and high quality healthcare but Jeremy stated that “The path to safer, better care is the same as the one to lower costs.” He defended his opinion with examples of organisations that have transformed both their financial situation and their quality of care.
For Jeremy, the first hurdle to overcome is a change in culture. He said that too many health care professionals feel that their jobs resemble a ‘hamster wheel’ and find it increasingly difficult to deliver personalised care. He called for greater support in nurturing the patient/clinician relationship and an ‘intelligent transparency’ that provides answers with clarity to the public’s questions and concerns.
Jeremy gave emphasis to the importance of leadership by values; using Nelson Mandela as an example he said: “What he did mattered. But who he was mattered even more. This is so important in healthcare. We aren’t just balancing books. We aren’t just delivering efficient, well run organisations. We are dealing with the life and death of our patients.
“The eyes of the world are on the NHS. No country anywhere has delivered fully integrated, out of hospital care focusing on prevention not cure for an entire healthcare economy. We have said that that is our ambition. And I am absolutely determined; for the benefit of our patients that is exactly what we will do.”