Responding to the government’s Levelling Up White Paper, NHS Providers expresses disappointment that more mention is not made of the wider influence that NHS Trusts should have in the process.
The White Paper sets out the government’s ‘levelling-up missions’, which include spreading opportunities and improving public services, with a specific aim to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy. Improvements to education and high-quality skills development also feature, as does local leadership with a pledge that any part of England that wants a devolution deal will have one by 2030.
Whilst welcoming the publication of the White Paper and its target to close the gap in healthy life expectancy, Saffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers, points out that it could go further. “We are disappointed to see that the announcements on health are limited to individual behaviour and healthy lifestyles. This fails to recognise the deeply entrenched and complex factors influencing poor health and obesity. There is little mention of how the NHS, far from simply being a treatment service, has a key role to play in contributing to better socioeconomic outcomes in all regions of the country.”
Referring to the hospital building programme, she adds: “If these ambitions are delivered, these new hospitals will be key anchor institutions for local communities, and the completion of these rebuilds will bring huge benefit to local economies. It is important that Trusts are given the opportunity to share their experiences, and that the government does all it can to help Trusts progress with their plans as quickly as possible.
“However, while investment in healthcare facilities is critical, as one of the largest employers in the country, Trusts have a wider role in levelling up, in terms of providing opportunities for employment and training, and contributing to environmental sustainability, access to green spaces, and the way they procure goods and services.”
The Department of Health and Social Care will publish a further White Paper on tackling the core drivers of disparities in health outcomes shortly. In the meantime, the government confirms it will take immediate action on the biggest contributor to ill health, diet and obesity, by taking forward recommendations of the National Food Strategy. It also confirms setting up at least 100 Community Diagnostic Centres in England by 2025.
