Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, failed to fully address the NHS funding crisis in his recent Spring Statement. But he hinted he would make a major announcement on health and social care finances in his Budget speech this Autumn.
Speaking on 13 March, he failed to mention the NHS, although he reiterated announcements in the 2017 Budget that almost £9billion of extra funding was being made available for health and social care, with £4billion being ploughed into the NHS in 2018/19 alone.
However, his speech was followed by an appearance by Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on ITV’s Peston show, where he called for a much-longer-term future funding policy for the health service.
I think the real concern is this rather crazy way we have been funding the NHS over the last 20 years, which has really been feast or famine
And he admitted that, any significant increase in NHS coffers moving forward would require a hike in taxes.
He said: “There’s no doubt that NHS staff right now are working unbelievably hard and they need to have some hope for the future.
“But I think their real concern is this rather crazy way we have been funding the NHS over the last 20 years, which has really been feast or famine.”
Asked about where the extra resources would come from, he added: “We are a taxpayer-funded system, so in the end, if we are going to get more resources into the NHS and social care system, it will have to come through the tax system and also through growth in the economy.”
And he argued that a longer 10-year funding plan would allow the Government to negotiate cheaper prices with drugs companies by striking longer-term deals and also to pay for new IT systems.
What the public want to know is, yes, I understand the case that the NHS needs more money, I’d like to see that money going in – but I want to know that every pound of that money is being spent wisely
“There’s lot of things that you could do that could fundamentally improve the efficiency of the system,” he said.
“What the public want to know is, yes, I understand the case that the NHS needs more money, I’d like to see that money going in – but I want to know that every pound of that money is being spent wisely.”
Meanwhile, Hammond has announced he has made the funding available for the NHS pay deal struck last week with nurses, midwives and other staff – paid partly from Treasury reserves.
And he said a comprehensive spending review, setting out plans across all departments three years ahead is due next summer, with the overall spending total likely to be announced in his Autumn budget.