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The Conservative Party has promised, if it wins the election, to support the continuation of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs), which bring together local health and social care services on condition they are “clinically led and locally supported”.
The promise, in the party manifesto, is in contrast to the view taken by the Labour Party. Its manifesto says the next Labour government would “halt and review” the 44 plans which are being developed in England.
However, the influential think tank, the King’s Fund argues that they should continue to be supported — regardless of which party wins the general election taking place on 8 June 2017.
Source: King’s Fund
Hugh Alderwick, a senior advisor at the King’s Fund, says the idea of collaborating within a geographical area to improve care and manage resources is what the health system needs to be doing.
Hugh Alderwick, a senior advisor at the King’s Fund, said the think tank wanted STPs to continue after the election, according to a report in
The BMJ
.
The journal reported that Alderwick told an event held to discuss the future of STPs: “From our perspective at the King’s Fund, STPs, whatever you want to call them, remain the right thing to be doing. The idea that you should be collaborating within a geographical area to improve care and manage resources is exactly what the health system needs to be doing. And whatever happens at the election it should be what the health service is doing after it too.”
He warned that STPs needed to focus on a “small number of key priorities” which they can deliver: “The danger is [that] if we try to do everything, STPs will get lost because the vision they’ve set out is so broad and so big.”
STPs were first announced in 2015 by former prime minister David Cameron’s Conservative government.
The intention is that NHS organisations and local councils will develop “place-based plans” for local integrated health and care services.
Draft plans were produced last summer which are now going through future development and consultation.
