Speaking at NHS Confed Expo yesterday, Sir Ciaran said ‘we cannot take our universal care service for granted in the current world'.

He added: ‘There's an attitude shift as access becomes harder to deliver in a world where access and consumerism means we expect access more quickly.

‘For the first time, we have to collectively defend the right to care through the point of view based on the need, not the ability to pay, and the most guaranteed way to undermine those principles will be the failure to improve care, the failure to reduce health inequalities, failure to resource and lead services effectively.

‘Our task collectively is not simply to run the NHS or reform the NHS, it's to genuinely renew it and renew it before the maths overruns us.'

NHSE abolition

Addressing greater powers being given to the secretary of state with NHSE abolition, Sir Ciaran said it was important to ensure the ‘right the checks are in place' to curb too much meddling in operational decisions.

Sir Ciaran said the cross-Government mental health strategy gave the ‘prospect of a more joined up approach to policy making across the NHS and wider public services'.

Productivity

He added more capital was needed in order to improve productivity.

‘This remains one of the big barriers to productivity gain,' Sir Ciaran said.

‘I don't see how we get it without capital funding.'

The NHS Alliance head said there was ‘clearly unfinished business in terms of covering unforeseen costs', including inflation, as a result of global conflict, alongside industrial action and the impact of the US drugs trade deal.

Concluding, Sir Ciaran said: ‘Previous generations built the NHS. Our job is to renew it. We have to improve services. We have to strengthen one of the most important institutions in our national life, and that I think is our job if we want to make sure that we're going to have an NHS.'