News story: £325 million invested in NHS transformation projects

On 19 July 2017, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens announced £325 million of capital investment for local projects that will help the NHS to modernise and transform care for patients.

Local capital investment schemes in 15 areas of the country have been given the go ahead, with the largest sums being used for urgent care in Dorset, surgery in Greater Manchester and cancer care in Cumbria.

The projects receiving funding include the following:

• in Greater Manchester, hospitals will deliver significant improvements in urgent and emergency care by concentrating services in 4 hub sites across the city, expected to save around 300 lives each year in general surgery alone

• in Bedfordshire local doctors and nurses are developing a primary care hub on the site of Bedford Hospital, which is expected to improve access to same-day appointments for around 50,000 patients and reduce the number of patients attending the hospital’s A&E department unnecessarily

• in Derbyshire an ‘Urgent Care Village’ will be created at the Royal Derby with GP services, a frailty clinic and mental health services, to ensure patients receive the right care in the right place, first time, and avoid going to A&E unnecessarily

This initial funding has been targeted at the strongest and most advanced schemes in the STP categories based on an assessment of leadership and service performance. All plans have been developed locally in consultation with the public.

The funding was secured in the Budget in March when the government also committed to make further capital investment available in the forthcoming Autumn Statement.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

This funding will support strong local plans to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients.

A measure of success of these transformation partnerships is that people can see and feel improvements being made in their local area – there are already excellent examples of this across the country and this money will allow them to go further and faster.

NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens said:

Today we’re firing the starting gun on the first wave of major service upgrades and care redesign which will benefit people living in counties, towns and cities across England. For patients it’ll mean easier GP appointments, modern A&Es, and better cancer and mental health care. For staff, we’re putting our money where our mouth is in backing these practical plans developed by doctors, nurses and local NHS leaders.

This is the first down payment of much needed investment in modern equipment and NHS facilities, with more promised in the autumn and beyond. Today is proof positive that when you back the NHS with investment, both patients and taxpayers see the practical benefits.

The strongest STPs have performed well across indicators in 3 broad areas: hospital performance, patient-focused change, and transformation.