NHS Confederation calls for strong leadership from new healthcare bodies

The NHS Confederation has urged the new bodies in charge of the UK health service to ensure they work together with NHS leaders in a productive fashion.

Several new organisations with responsibility for key NHS functions have come into being this month, while others will take on new responsibilities.

Healthwatch and Health Education England have commenced operations as of October 1st 2012, while the NHS Commissioning Board has become an independent body, Monitor has assumed regulatory functions and some clinical commissioning groups have become statutory bodies.

NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said in an article for the Health Service Journal that these organisations need to listen to NHS leaders, ensure they are working towards the same goals and make compliance as easy as possible.

Mr Farrar said: "The NHS must stay focused on patient care, not repeatedly providing information in different formats to multiple bodies."

Last week, the NHS Confederation head called for a "fundamental redesign" of the way local services are provided, in order to help NHS trusts cope with growing financial pressures.