Are sustainability funding and payment by results on the way out?
The next three years will see a ‘wholesale shift’ in funding rules, says NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens.
On the heels of the announcement of the five-year NHS funding package by Prime Minister Theresa May, Simon Stevens told Health Service Journal (HSJ) to expect changes over the next three years. These include:
- sustainability funding will end by the close of financial year 2021/22
- the activity-based payment by results (PBR) tariff is also to go
- the future of control totals is under consideration by NHS Improvement
The options for future funding schemes include:
- a mixture of commissioning budgets and tariff
- new system-level funds
The plan will be announced in September and confirmed in November. Clinical commissioning group allocations will be set out firmly for three years and indicatively for two years.
Mr Stevens also said that the five-year funding settlement would have to be supplemented by funds released by radical changes to large service areas. He showed support for the Carter review’s recommendations around combining acute and community services. Mr Stevens has previously said that the NHS outpatients model must change.