Ian Carruthers tells conference that white paper is agenda for future, not something extra

The NHS’s chief executive told service leaders today that the health and social care white paper agenda of shifting services into the community should not be an add on to mainstream business.

Ian Carruthers told the NHS Confederation conference that the white paper was “the agenda for the future” and not “something extra”, and could help improve productivity at a time when the service was facing financial difficulty.

Carruthers made no mention of social care in his speech, though did urge his audience to “build effective partnerships beyond the NHS”, despite current challenges such as achieving financial balance in certain areas.