Michael Dixon, chair of NHS Alliance, said: “Political stability and increased investment is good news for the NHS, however regardless of what happens over the coming days, weeks or months, it is imperative that the new Government doesn’t initiate further unnecessary structural change. The NHS requires cultural change, and the new models of care, as outlined in the Five Year Forward View, must be supported in helping to deliver this.
“We must develop an NHS that places adequate resource into the primary care sector, with an emphasis on prevention rather than cure. The NHS Alliance believes that introducing innovative models of care is a positive step, and that sufficient early funding is needed to ensure these models establish themselves, allowing them to succeed and evolve.
“Most importantly of all, the new Government must tackle the very real recruitment problem that general practice is currently facing. Empty promises of thousands of new GPs are meaningless when huge numbers are nearing retirement, moving abroad, or choosing to pursue other specialities when leaving medical school and the new government must focus on developing a workable solution to this problem.”