Yesterday on BBC Radio 4, Simon Stevens the Chief Executive of NHS England was called the fourth most powerful man in the UK today after the PM, Chancellor and Governor of the Bank of England.
I have to confess, I knew little about him. Yet today, with the Junior Doctors striking he is again at the eye of a storm around shortfalls in NHS funding.
It was the Conservative politician Nigel Lawson who remarked that in multi cultural England, the National Health Service is the closest thing we have to a National Religion. So it was quite interesting that in 2013, a Conservative government appointed a Labour Politician to run the NHS. Some commentators say it was very astute of David Cameron to do this, as Simon Stevens knows how to get things done.
There's certainly a lot to do.
Simon Stevens is a reformer, an innovator, an effective campaigner - most recently being instrumental in the Sugar Tax to fight Childhood obesity. His long term thinking is about reducing the pressure on the NHS by individuals leading healthier lifestyles.
In the short term, the maths looks like there is a £22billion shortfall in NHS funding. With many NHS positions unfilled and piles of Visa applications on NHS Executives desks - there is no fat to trim in the people. Over spending is not on staff when positions lie vacant and doctors are increasingly find it hard to tolerate new contracts.
So what other ways are there to alleviate pressures on the service while protecting patients and the highly valued NHS workforce?
For those of us working in the technology industry there are some shafts of sunlight. In a chaotic climate, technology might not consistently be at the top of the agenda in the short term. But if there was ever a time to consider the bigger picture, it is now.
While cost is a giant issue, the upshot of technology initiatives isn't all about cost. The first priority is with patient care. This is why the recent report from Lord Carter singled out Teletracking as a best practice approach for other trusts in the UK to explore.
I am fascinated to see how Simon Stevens will be embracing technology to drive cultural change within the NHS for patients, for staff and for the benefit of everyone's future.
The question of how much extra money NHS England needs to meet rising patient demand has dominated recent political argument over the health service. And that is largely down to the chief executive, Simon Stevens. His five-year forward view in October 2014 set out some big numbers, which were widely seen as realistic and then in turn adopted by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the general election campaign. But are those numbers quite what they seem? The plan set out by Mr Stevens and senior NHS colleagues predicted a £30bn gap in 2020 between expected demand and what the NHS could deliver. He said £22bn could come from efficiency savings, leaving £8bn above inflation needed from the government.
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