Daily Insight: The big outpatient push

NHS England this week declared a heavily caveated “virtual” victory on its target to eliminate two-year waiters by July (there are still 2,777 two-year breaches on the list) and put phase two of the plan squarely in the crosshairs: the big outpatient push.

Patients at trusts with long waiting lists should no longer think “they have to go to their local hospital” for outpatient appointments, but should instead be offered virtual consultations elsewhere in the country where there is greater capacity, Sir Jim Mackey has told HSJ.

The NHSE elective chief said recent efforts to abolish two-year waiters by July had meant a “very big” surgical focus. However, the next phase of the elective recovery plan would see a major shift of emphasis on to reducing the wait for outpatient appointments.

The NHS’s next target is to eliminate 78-week plus waiters by March. There were around 57,000 78-week waiters, according to the latest official data from May.

However, NHSE leaders are very concerned about a cohort of “over a million patients” who could tip into the 78-week breach category if they are not treated by March and there is widespread concern the target will not be met, as HSJ revealed last month.

Much will depend on how far system leaders can drive a radical transformation of the way outpatients services are provided. Read our story here.

Bain ban raises interesting question

Last week the Cabinet Office banned international consultancy Bain & Company from bidding for government contracts for three years.

Government efficiency minister Jacob Rees-Mogg had concluded the firm was “guilty of grave professional misconduct” following a review of its role in “alleged state capture and corruption by the former government of South Africa,” a Cabinet Office spokesperson said.

Subsequently Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust decided to end a contract with the firm, awarded last year, to help it with its five-year strategy and delivery programme. The contract was divided into three one-year tranches – the trust decided not to roll it into its final year.

Bain & Company told HSJ the current phase of work with NHFT was set to conclude in early September anyway, having helped “deliver significant results… to support the trust’s elective recovery and growth ambitions”.

These events came after pressure from veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain put the government under pressure to punish Bain for “despicable” behaviour.

But, as HSJ readers point out, it is not the only international professional services firm to be implicated in a global scandal. Will others receive the same treatment by HMG and NHS trusts? We shall have to wait and see.