EmailTitled Capital challenge: improving healthcare in London, the document says that despite some notable achievements, including a fall in death rates from breast cancer, there remain significant challenges for the service.
It highlights a number of areas where savings could potentially be made without compromising quality, including a redesign of services, removing unnecessary duplication and working with partner organisations to reduce operating costs. Determining how best to make these improvements will require some difficult but necessary decisions, it says.
"Consolidating services allows the latest equipment to be placed alongside the most expert clinicians," it says. "As techniques and technology have developed over recent years, access to the best speciality services rather than close proximity has become the key for patient safety and improving survival rates."
Demand for health services is rising because of the increasing population, the increasing proportion of older people and changes to the ways people use services.
London has a higher than average proportion of people with serious mental health problems, linked to homelessness and substance misuse, the report says.
There are also financial challenges associated with London's NHS property, much of which is between 30 and 100 years old and no longer suitable for modern healthcare needs.
In addition, the NHS in London is expected to face a higher demand for services than the amount of financial resources available, and this is likely to put serious pressure on services over the coming years.
NHS Confederation acting chief executive Nigel Edwards said: "There is no doubt the NHS in London has made significant improvements in recent years, but we recognise there is more to do if all Londoners are to have access to the best quality care.
"Delivering the necessary improvements to London's NHS services during a financially challenging period will doubtless prove a test for many organisations, particularly around public health and the health inequalities agenda which is arguably the capital's number one health challenge."
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