NHS: “Crunch time” for Health Service Funding Gap

The NHS will face “crunch time” in just a few months unless there are major funding increases in the Budget on November 22 to cope with the increasing demand on the service. Under previous Budget decisions funding growth will slow in 2018-19 to just 0.4%, one of the lowest rates in the service’s entire history.

The total spend will be an estimated £4bn less than what is needed, with the annual funding gap growing to almost £25bn four years later according to the nation’s top three independent health watchdogs – the King’s Fund, the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation.

Health spending in England is now set to rise from £123.8bn in 2017-18 to £128.4bn by the end of this parliament in 2022-23, according to a pre-Budget report by the three policy research centres. Based on projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility it is estimated that health spending would need to rise to about £153bn by 2022-23 to meet demand.

“Don’t Go Backwards”

Jennifer Dixon, the chief executive of the Health Foundation, said the report did not call for a drastic spend-up but only a return to previous increases. “Public opinion consistently shows through polling and voting, that the NHS is a top priority issue facing Britain,” she said.

“Without proper investment now the NHS will slip well below the standards and outcomes of health care provided by our European neighbours. This is entirely avoidable. An extra £4bn in 2018-19 would simply be a return to the average increases of the first 63 years of the NHS’s history.

The additional funding required is not exceptional – it is the last seven years of austerity that are the exception.”

Seven Years of Austerity

“Seven years of austerity and rising demand for services is taking a mounting toll on patient care,” said the joint report. “Waiting times are rising with patient rights under the NHS Constitution routinely breached and access to some services is being restricted. General practice, mental health and community services are under huge pressure.”

“Even if the Government met its manifesto commitments to increase NHS spending, this would not come close to meeting the projected funding gap of more than £20bn by the end of this parliament. Any further pledges to increase NHS staff pay must also be fully funded, rather than being met from within the existing NHS funding settlement.”

Keep Election Promises

The report emphasised that the Conservative Government should at least honour its own manifesto commitments on health spending. The NHS is consistently used by politicians as a tool to win votes and improve their public image, with the Leave campaign’s claim that Brexit would provide an extra £350m a week for the NHS the ultimate example of a popular banner that vastly swayed a vote with little hope of actually being delivered.

The report called for an “immediate and substantial down-payment” on the Government’s promise to increase NHS funding by £8bn by the end of this parliament. It also demanded that the Government responds to the Naylor Review – a controversial plan to sell off NHS land and buildings – by outlining how it would meet its election promise to provide an extra £10bn in capital investment above existing spending plans.

But the think-tanks warned that even meeting the Government’s main manifesto pledges would not be enough to prevent a crisis. “Unless additional funding is provided, staff shortages will grow, patients will wait longer for treatment, and quality of care will deteriorate with significant consequences for patients and their families,” they said.

by Stewart Vickers

 

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