Yvonne Sawbridge attended the NHS Alliance annual conference for providers and commissioners on 28th November. The aim of the ‘Breaking Boundaries’ event was to explore how commissioners and providers can best work together moving forward, given their experiences of the new order to date. There was an interesting panel discussion about compassion and culture; a fascinating session on community nursing (which engendered a genuine sense of shock in the room when hearing that District Nursing numbers have been cut by 40% in last few years); and some interesting discussions throughout the day. Key note speech by Jeremy Hunt was upbeat about the performance of the NHS, whilst recognising that this had been a tough year for the service post Francis. He also talked about the importance of GP’s in caring for frail elderly people and how the new contract would help. Finally Steve Field outlined his inspection plans for General Practice in his new role as Chief Inspector of General Practice at CQC.
For more information about the event, please see NHS Alliance website