51短视频

Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation and one of the UK鈥檚 most influential health leaders, visited the Royal Society of 51短视频 on Monday 15 May 2023 to give the annual Stevens Lecture, an RSM flagship public engagement event founded in 1970 by philanthropist and inventor Edwin Stevens.

Mr Taylor used his speech to propose that the occasion of the NHS鈥檚 75th birthday should be used to develop a more ambitious national social contract for healthcare, something he believes to be 鈥榤ore practical and more achievable than it might sound鈥�.

But to achieve this for the nation, he said, will require us to make a more profound commitment and to rise to two sets of challenges. 鈥淔irstly, the need to re-set relationships: between the public and our own health; between the centre and the NHS; and between all organisations involved in health and care. And secondly, the urgent demand for investment 鈥� not just the amount, but also where we invest.鈥�

In his wide-ranging speech, Mr Taylor went on to discuss health disparities and the need for us to understand and acknowledge more fully the economic consequences of poor public health, together with the importance of empowering and enabling patients and communities to manage and improve their health and wellbeing.

He went on to discuss the state of primary care, giving examples of 鈥榝antastic鈥� practice led by 鈥榠nspirational鈥� GPs and primary care managers. 鈥淪tanding out in this work is a commitment, on the one hand, to improve population health and reduce health inequalities and, on the other, to work with partners in the health service and beyond and with community organisations鈥�, he said. According to Mr Taylor, the most inspiring primary care leaders see themselves as 鈥榮treet-level entrepreneurs knitting together networks, services and bits of funding, focused always on working with others to improve the health and wellbeing of communities鈥�.

Proceeding to tackle the 鈥榗omplicated and contested鈥� debate about the resources of the NHS, Mr Taylor told the audience that, undeniably, 鈥榯o meet rising demands and expectations and to make the most of advances in medicine we need better, more sustained, and more equitable funding for health and social care鈥�.

He went on to describe research commissioned by the NHS Confederation showing that for every 拢1 invested per head on the NHS, 拢4 is returned to the wider economy, pointing out the 拢43 billion cost to the UK economy of loss of earnings caused by long-term sickness.

Reiterating the need for investing proportionately more money into primary, public health, prevention and community-based services, Mr Taylor said that most health leaders 鈥� including those who run acute trusts 鈥� recognise the need to shift resources 鈥榠f we are ever to get off the hamster wheel of trying to meet ever more demand for hospital-based care鈥�.

Ending his speech, Mr Taylor said: 鈥淒espite all the challenges we face I believe the best days of the NHS still lie ahead. Sufficiently funded, properly supported, devolved, preventative, empowering 鈥� our health service can be ready to grasp the opportunities offered by science and technology for a transformation in health outcomes. It is a future worth fighting for.鈥�

To read Mr Taylor鈥檚 speech in full

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