High quality care for all NHS Next Stage Review - Antibiotic Action

30 2: Changes in healthcare and society2Challenge 6: A changing healthworkplace22. In recent years, Britain has becomea ‘knowledge economy’ withthe majority of new jobs beingin knowledge-based industries. 49Healthcare has always been aknowledge-led sector, relyingon expert learning and depth ofexperience. Increasing complexityis an integral feature of modernhealthcare. With new advances inclinical science and new treatmentsfor patients, come fresh challengesfor professionals. Whether in acuteor community settings, easy andconvenient access to knowledge isan essential part of a modern andeffective workplace.23. Expectations of work in healthcareare changing, with people todayseeking quality work. 50 Healthcareprofessionals expect the depth oftheir expertise to be recognisedand rewarded, and their skills tobe developed and enhanced. Theyseek personal fulfilment as well asfinancial reward. 51 They understandthe demands of accountability andwelcome transparency as a routeto achieving true meritocracy. Staffexpect a better work/life balance andmore respect and regard for pressureson their time beyond those of theirprofession.49 Ian Brinkley, The Knowledge Economy: HowKnowledge is Reshaping the Economic Life ofNations, March 2008, The Work Foundation.50 For more on the importance of work quality seeG. Lowe, The Quality of Work: A People-CentredAgenda, 2000.51 On doctor’s motivation see S. Dewar etal., Understanding Doctors: HarnessingProfessionalism, King’s Fund, May 2008.24. High quality work is not simply amatter of a good deal for staff andfor patients. It is also essential tomeeting the productivity challenge:high quality workplaces make bestuse of the talents of their people,ensuring that their skills are upto date, and their efforts neverwasted. The public rightly expecttheir taxes to be put to best use.For those working in the NHS thereis a need to reduce unnecessarybureaucracy, freeing up their time tocare for patients, within the resourcesavailable. Creating high qualityworkplaces requires great leadershipand good management.Where we stand today25. I believe we are well placed torespond to these challenges not onlybecause of the progress made overrecent years but also because of thefundamental basis of our NHS as atax-funded system, based on clinicalneed rather than ability to pay. Inthis respect, the NHS is unlike healthsystems in comparable countries, andis particularly well positionedto respond.26. For insurance companies, there is noincentive to invest in the preventionof ill health as patients may moveto a different scheme. Diagnosticsincrease the capacity of the NHS toreach out to predict and prevent illhealth, but in other systems theyincrease their capacity to excludethose at risk from the protectionthey need.