Defence Medical Services: A Strategy for the Future
Relations with the NHS
In many areas local working arrangements with the NHS are good. But this is not true everywhere, and there is a particular gap at the strategic level. Some major issues have been left unresolved for lengthy periods, in part because there is no mechanism for addressing them. We therefore intend to establish an NHS representative on the two top management boards for the DMS. Their roles would include:
- giving an NHS perspective on DMS decisions
- seeking Ministerial approval for inter-departmental initiatives, and
- targeting the right expertise within the NHS to address specific questions.
The issues on which their advice would be essential include the options for a future Centre of Defence Medicine, guidelines for negotiating local contracts with the NHS for secondary care, and the co-ordination of recruitment and retention campaigns, since we are essentially fishing in the same pool. The overall intention is to ensure that the NHS and the DMS work closely together at all levels, making most effective use of the vital national resource that the medical services represent.
Last Updated: 2 Nov 01