PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Penelope J Dash TI - The future of hospitals: a consultancy viewpoint AID - 10.7861/futurehosp.14.007 DP - 2014 Jun 01 TA - Future Hospital Journal PG - 16--22 VI - 1 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/1/1/16.short 4100 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/1/1/16.full SO - Future Hosp J2014 Jun 01; 1 AB - The NHS, like other healthcare systems, is facing challenges arising from shifts in patient needs, new technologies and the need to control costs. To address these challenges, hospitals will need to innovate in their models for service delivery; standardisation and process management, co-production of care, skill-mix changes, more efficient use of assets, and rapid adoption of IT will all be key. To deliver these changes, all hospitals will need to learn from the practices of the current best performers and new financial and operational models, together with different approaches to workforce planning, will be necessary.