Responding to the Spending Review, Sarah Woolnough, Chief
Executive of The King's Fund, said:
‘Despite the tough economic climate, the government has
prioritised health services by continuing to increase spending on
the NHS for the rest of this parliament. A 2.8% average increase
in total health department spending – 3% for day-to-day NHS
spending – will have been hard-fought for in the spending round
negotiations, despite still being lower than the historical
average the NHS has received over recent years. A key challenge
now will be for NHS to decide how it can deliver most value from
the money that has been allocated.
‘We know there are already trade-offs happening in the NHS due to
tight finances. The Chancellor said she wants the public to have
'an NHS there when they need it'. It is hard to see how all the
things she mentions – faster ambulance times, more GP
appointments and adequate mental health services and more - can
be met on this settlement alone. Particularly when large parts of
this additional funding will be absorbed by existing rising
costs, such as the higher cost of medicines, which are currently
being negotiated, and covering staff pay deals. But there is a
huge opportunity offered by the government's upcoming 10 year
plan for health, so we will wait to see how this money will be
translated into better, more efficient services.
‘The three shifts in the upcoming plan are right: preventing ill
health sooner, more care into the community, analogue to digital,
and it is good to see the constancy of purpose by having these
strategic shifts reconfirmed in today's commitments. However,
whilst it is signalling all the right priorities, this is a
spending review that raises some questions rather than providing
definitive answers. The Chancellor has made some welcome steps to
protect capital investment and set out budgets over longer-time
periods.
‘But while capital budgets are being shown to increase – they do
so by nowhere near enough to rebuild or replace the tired
facilities and equipment large parts of the NHS currently relies
on. Nor to develop the new hospitals and community facilities
needed to deliver a modernised health service.
‘We welcome a firm commitment to introducing a Fair Pay Agreement
for social care workers, a measure to incentivise people to work
in social care which can't come soon enough given the government
has already limited overseas recruitment. But there is worryingly
little detail of how much this would cost and if it would come
out of the relatively small amount of additional funding
announced for social care, which would leave little left for
other fundamental improvements to our ailing system.
‘The NHS has faced financial pressure for more than a decade, but
the signals of financial distress across the NHS have grown in
recent years. This matters because financial pressures absolutely
have an impact on the care patients and the public receive.
‘Today's announcements show how much the government is willing to
spend on the health service but the real prize will be the vision
of a better and more sustainable health care service that will be
set out in the forthcoming 10 year
plan'.
