Major NHS England changes to improve health services
The recent announcement by the Health and Social Care Secretary about plans to abolish NHS England represents a significant change in government policy. As the UK’s leading membership organisation for professionals working across adoption, fostering and kinship care, our members include a large number of health professionals. The abolition of NHS England will likely impact both these members and the children and families they work with.
NHS England is the administrative body which manages how health services up and down the country are run. It works with government to agree funding and priorities for the NHS, oversees delivery of safe and effective NHS services, drives best practice, delivers training and tools for the NHS workforce. It hasl a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers.
We also note the reports that Integrated Care Boards are at risk of experiencing significant reductions in personnel to cut their running costs. Integrated care boards (ICBs) replaced clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the NHS from 1 July 2022 and have taken on many of their responsibilities. They facilitate integration between local NHS organisations in their area. There is an ICB within each Integrated Care System (ICS), which has responsibility for commissioning most NHS services on behalf of the ICS.
In these reforms it is vital that the needs of vulnerable children, children in care and adopted children, are not forgotten. It is important to not lose sight of the transformation programmes for areas such as children’s mental health and the professional development of social workers practising in mental health settings. CoramBAAF will continue to monitor these developments closely, and we will update our members if this impacts on adoption, fostering and kinship policy and practice.
We recognise and acknowledge that this will be a time of uncertainty for many committed staff who work for NHS England and other related areas.
James Bury, Head of Policy, Research and Development, CoramBAAF.