New Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has suggested she will take a fresh approach to dealing with NHS strikes and plans to find a “fair and reasonable resolution”.
In a video message to the NHS Providers’ annual conference in Liverpool, she told delegates she is “an optimist”.
Ms Atkins said she plans to work with staff to overcome the challenges in the health service and “take the long-term decisions that will build a brighter future for our NHS”.
She added: “This is the approach I will take to industrial action.
“I’m acutely aware of how the strikes have disrupted patient care and I’m committed to getting around the table, because I want to see a fair and reasonable resolution.”
For me, it is truly personal. Like families up and down the country, I owe our NHS a lot... I want to make sure it's here in fighting fit form for our children and our grandchildren, just as it's been here for us— Victoria Atkins, Health Secretary
At the start of her message, she said she wanted to “start by thanking you all for all the fantastic and vital work that you do”.
She added: “I’m sorry I can’t be with you in Liverpool, but I’m really looking forward to getting to know you and working with you in the weeks and months ahead.
“It’s a genuine pleasure and a privilege to be your Health and Social Care Secretary.
“My belief in our national health service and its founding principles is one of the reasons I came into politics.
“Now I know you might hear this a lot, but for me, it is truly personal. Like families up and down the country, I owe our NHS a lot. It has cared for me and my family and bought my wonderful son into the world.
“I want to make sure that it’s here in fighting fit form for our children and our grandchildren, just as it’s been here for us.”
She said there is “a lot of work to do” as Government reforms “bed in” and the NHS faces a tough winter.
“We know winter will be challenging, but this year we have all started to prepare earlier than ever before,” she said.
“Using our recovery plan, we can continue to expand capacity, build resilience and deliver better care. This has to be our number one priority.
“I recognise that this requires working collaboratively with other organisations and sectors – for example working with the police to support people suffering from mental health crises.”
She told staff they have “overcome a once-in-a-generation pandemic” and are working to tackling waiting lists.
She finished off by saying her thanks to staff is sincere, adding: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and get on with the job. Now’s the time to deliver for patients and deliver for our NHS.”
Discussions between doctors’ leaders and officials at the Department of Health and Social Care are ongoing on the best way to resolve strikes.
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard told the Providers’ conference about the first phone call she had with Ms Atkins after she became Health Secretary.
Asked what the first question she asked Ms Atkins was, Ms Pritchard said: “I wonder if you’d be interested to know the first question she asked me?
“The first question she asked me was ‘What can I do to help you?’
We have consistently... talked about the impacts industrial action has had on patients, talked about the impact that it's had on our own teams and colleagues, talked about the impact it's had on finances, but also called on all sides to work together to find a resolution— Amanda Pritchard. NHS England
“We then had a very wide-ranging discussion, but it will be unsurprising to know that one of the first things we talked about was industrial action.
“So we’ve been really clear, we have consistently… talked about the impacts industrial action has had on patients, talked about the impact that it’s had on our own teams and colleagues, talked about the impact it’s had on finances, but also called on all sides to work together to find a resolution.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, told the conference resolving the strikes was critical.
“So, resolving industrial action, absolutely critical, particularly critical for our workforce,” she said.
“The thing that we have been calling for on your behalf and will continue to call for until it’s resolved – is to see the industrial action behind us.
“We know what an impact that has had on staff, on patients, on the ability to see people in a timely fashion, to really get through those very long waiting lists.
“And I don’t just mean in acute trusts or hospitals, I mean across all services who’ve been feeling the impacts of that, and that means mental health, community and ambulance services as well.
“We really need to see that industrial action behind us and I was very heartened to hear Victoria’s approach there in the film, which really focused on coming to the table and negotiating, having a conversation and listening.
“That feels so important and I think there’s even more reason for hope than there has been over the last few weeks where we know that talks have been underway.”
It comes as Ms Pritchard announced that NHS staff have diagnosed 475,573 people with dementia in September – up more than 52,000 on the same time last year. Diagnosis rates are now at a three-year high.
NHS England launched pilots last December to increase diagnosis, with health professionals going into care homes to assess older adults who may have missed checks during the pandemic.
