The NHS begins 2020 with good reason to hope for a better decade

The NHS begins 2020 with good reason to hope for a better decade The NHS stands at the threshold of a new decade facing both potentially its most difficult winter in decades and the most hopeful medium-term future since the 2008 financial crash.
The global economic meltdown at the end of this century’s first decade was significantly more important than anything that happened between 2010 and 2019. It led, though not directly, to public sector austerity, which undermined many of the gains made by the NHS during the New Labour years and decimated other areas of social provision on which the health service depends.
The aftermath of austerity will go on damaging the NHS for some time, not least because budget cuts for local authorities and other areas of expenditure have only been mitigated, but not ended. We have also yet to count the cost in staff morale and resilience from what may prove to be a cruel winter.
However, for the first time in nearly 10 years NHS leaders can look forward over a three-year period and reasonably expect to do more — albeit only a little — than manage decline and hope that a more logical and effective way of working may become a widespread reality. Health Service Journal