Last week we looked at how the creation of 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plans will affect the future of primary care. There’s more to the story though - STPs are also to be the ‘single application and approval point’ for local organisations to access NHS transformation funding.
Teams in each of the STP ‘footprints’ started planning and initial discussions with local staff and communities on how to bring about positive changes in 2016. Two of their key drivers have been the need for a change to locally delivered care, and to agree what area and leadership model works best at a local level.
Transformation funds have been set up and local organisations will be able to send applications to provide new care models, with bids being made in 2016 for supporting mental health, cancer support and diabetes treatments.
NHS England has said that from 2017, the STPs will become the single application and approval process to access any of the £560m transformation fund. The transformation fund and the £40m resilience funds are still available for general practices to take advantage of, with the resilience funding being a key part of the Forward View’s GP support.
The NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-2019 will set out detailed measures of the funding available from the Sustainability and Transformation package and their contribution to the aims in the GP Forward View:
NHS England maintains that STPs will set out plans to strengthen primary care in line with the GP Forward View, setting out new ways for general practices to deliver services on their own and integrating with hospital care, including new ideas like primary care hubs, ‘super practices’ and exploring new models of care.
Elsewhere, Chancellor Phillip Hammond recently promised £425m in government investment over the next 3 years for the NHS, £325m of which is going towards some STPs to reform services. He has given £100m for plans to put more GPs in hospitals to combat the heavy demands on A&E, with another £2bn going towards social care.
What do you think the impact of these changes will be? To learn more about the most important things to know about STPs, take a look at our recent article on the topic.
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