The general election is over. Now the hard work needs to begin. That, more or less, was the message delivered by NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Liverpool.

Stevens, naturally, wants to inspire people with the idea that a revolution in public health, to curb long-term demand, and a revolution in ways of working, to improve efficiency, are possible. But, as the decision to put three healthcare economies into “success regime” shows, the NHS has some very immediate financial and quality issues to tackle.

Elements of the Five Year Forward View also require a leap of faith. Is this government really up for the kind of assault on income inequality and big-food that might curb obesity? And are the ever proliferating vanguard projects going to solve enough problems for enough services fast enough to make a difference?

Then, the speech was short on real specifics. IT for instance. The Care Quality Commission is increasingly reporting that ‘inadequate’ trusts have disjointed systems, chaotic records, and poor data. But are inspectors and regulators interested in or capable of addressing that?

Or new ways of working. Last week, NHS 111 unveiled a beta website. Yet this is just the latest in a series of online initiatives to try and divert people from physical services that have signally failed to work. Stevens will have his work cut out to cut through all this.

On the bright side, however, we all know people in healthcare IT doing inspirational jobs. The Healthcare IT Champion of the Year was set up to recognise this: so a small reminder that the deadline for nominations for this year’s award is coming up, and falls next Friday, 12 June.

Stevens warns NHS on cash and change

NHS England has turned three areas with persistent financial and service challenges into ‘success regimes’ to receive greater central support, Simon Stevens told an audience of NHS leaders.

NHS 111 goes online

NHS England is testing an online version of non-emergency phone service NHS 111 that uses a simplified version of the algorithm used by call handlers.

NHS SBS takes on McKesson HR business

McKesson has continued the disposal of McKesson UK with the sale of its McKesson Shared Services business to NHS Shared Business Services.

Surrey and Sussex signs with Cerner

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has signed a ten-year contract to retain Cerner Millennium using the London Procurement Partnership framework.

East Kent gets £6m for Allscripts

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has received £6 million in central funding to support the implementation of Allscripts’ patient administration system and a maternity system from EuroKing.

Cornwall GPs follow Guru

A patient record sharing scheme in Cornwall has gone county-wide with all GPs signed up to share their information using Microtest’s Guru.

Worcestershire markets eConsent tool

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is commercialising a new electronic system to support the delivery of patient consent to care and treatment.

Wales integrates health and social care

The Welsh government is investing £6.7 million to develop an IT system to link health and social care services around the country.

“I see no likelihood of the NHS receiving additional cash this year. We will have to manage with the resources allocated to us.”

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, dispels any hopes of an immediate cash bail-out for the provider sector.

“NHS pilot: definition: ‘The first organisation to try the next big idea before it is automatically introduced everywhere else, normally several months before the pilot organisation has been able to determine its effectiveness'."

So, NHS chief executive Simon Stevens, looking for a stirring and uplifting phrase to encourage his audience at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference to go home and prepare for the ‘Five Year Forward View’ looked to David Bowie. “Tomorrow,” he said, “belongs to those who can hear it coming.”

Hmm. The ever-helpful Wikipedia says this was the tag line to the posters for Bowie’s song ‘Heroes’– which also has a nice ring to it, until you read the lyrics. These include “we’re nothing, and nothing will help us”, which may well be how healthcare economies in “success regime” are feeling this morning, and many references to things being “just for one day” when we all know five years of effort lie ahead. Still, nice tag.