Responding to the Autumn Budget, Siva Anandaciva,
Director of Policy, Events and Partnerships at The King's Fund,
said:
'Considering the wider national priorities and the economic
storms facing the country, it is understandable that little was
said on the NHS and adult social care compared to recent Budgets.
The Chancellor talked a lot about breathing space, but he will
have less than he would like when it comes to a health and care
sector heading into winter and with the looming threat of further
industrial action. All eyes will now turn to the upcoming
spending review where the really difficult decisions will need to
be made for the rest of this Parliament.
'There have been some positive smaller announcements today,
including higher tax-free mileage rates for care workers, ending
the carer's allowance cliff edge from 2030, extra funding to
support the NHS over winter and action to address wider societal
issues that contribute to poor health such as measures around
rough sleeping, gambling and vape shops, as well as investment in
life sciences. There is also an opportunity to deliver better
value for money with a new review into AI in the NHS.
'While it may not grab the headlines, the announcement of a new
ring-fenced type of public spending focused on prevention has the
potential to be genuinely transformational for the health and
care service. Protecting spending on services that keep us
healthy could finally deliver the government's ambition to have
an NHS that is a health service rather than a sickness treatment
service. This will require a lot of intense work over the coming
months across government to develop the details of how this
change in spending policy will be delivered by the 2027 Spending
Review.
'With the latest British Social Attitudes survey showing only 26%
of British adults in 2025 were satisfied with how the NHS runs,
it is difficult to see how the government will meet their
manifesto pledges on reducing waiting lists as well as deliver
the ambitions in the 10-Year Plan for Health with the limited
resource it has allocated the sector.
'Tight NHS finances have a tangible impact on healthcare services
and on patients. For example, healthcare leaders are making
difficult decisions to close non-core services such as those that
help people to stop smoking or sexual health clinics. These are
the types of preventative services needed to keep people out of
hospital and healthy in the first place. Additionally, if the
Defence Investment Plan is funded by raiding NHS capital budgets,
this will likely lead to further delays to the New Hospital
Programme.
'We, alongside others across the sector, have welcomed the
government's recent ambition to reform social care. For too long,
too many people haven't been able to access the care they need.
But today's Budget had little concrete detail to support these
social care ambitions.
'Restoring hope for the future is an admirable ambition, but the
government has less breathing room than it would like and that
only makes it more important that the government is realistic
with the health and care sector and the public about what can be
achieved within the current financial envelope.'
