‘Transforming Services Together’: what does East London’s plan for health services imply for East Londoners?

Written By Vivek Kotecha & Colin Leys

Transforming Services Together (TST) is a five-year plan to radically reconfigure health services in the London boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. The draft plan was drawn up between 2014 and 2016, at a cost of £3.49m for external consultants alone. It now appears to form part of the draft Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for the wider North-East London area or ‘footprint’.

This report reviews the changes proposed by the TST plan and assesses the impact on East London’s patients and whether they are likely to work. It asks the following questions:

  • What problems is Transforming Services Together seeking to address?

  • What is the planner’s solution to closing the funding gap?

  • If all goes ahead as planned what will this mean for patients?

  • Are the plans based on realistic assumptions?

  • What will it mean for patients if the planner’s assumptions are wrong and the plans cannot be achieved?

Vivek Kotecha & Colin Leys
Vivek Kotecha

Vivek was CHPI's Research Manager from 2016 to 2020 ─ leading on a number of high-profile projects in this time. Before coming to CHPI he worked as a manager in Monitor and NHS Improvement analysing and reporting on the operational and financial performance of the provider sector. Prior to that he worked as a management consultant at Deloitte for 4 years.

Colin Leys

Colin is an emeritus professor at Queen’s University, Canada, and an honorary professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2000 he has written extensively on health policy. He is co-author with Stewart Player of Confuse and Conceal: the NHS and Independent Sector Treatment Centres.

Previous

The failure of privatised adult social care in England: what is to be done?
Next

Sustainability and Transformations Fund – why it is not enough and what are its implications for the provider sector?