Increasing demand, workforce shortages and productivity challenges continue to drive financial challenges across the healthcare sector. Alongside this backdrop, there is ongoing uncertainty over funding levels across the NHS, whilst there is also a need to re-balance payment mechanisms to incentivise behavioural change and integration of health and care. Integrated Care Boards will need to develop ways of both integrating financials – to drive reporting and derive insights for collective decision-making including enablers such as shared services – and reforming the way funding flows through the system to incentivise and reward joint working.
Integrated Care System (ICS) leaders and also providers are under increasing pressure to reduce costs, increase productivity and ensure financial balance is delivered. To deliver this, a focus on financial sustainability and corporate services transformation is now a critical priority. The increasing integration of healthcare is the opportunity for NHS finance to be reimagined and become integrated world-class finance functions, providing insights and efficiency to support the delivery of the highest standard of health and care.
