The Health Committee have published a new report which concludes that the NHS has made many straightforward savings, but it needs to make further “fundamental” changes in the integration of services in order to meet the needs of patients. The committee’s annual inquiry into public expenditure on health and social care warns that without stronger commissioners and ring-fenced funding, there is a serious risk to the quality of health and care services to vulnerable people in the future. The committee also describes the current commissioning structures as “fragmented”, arguing that the new Health and Wellbeing Boards must be further developed so that they can become “effective” commissioners of joined-up health and care services.
