NHS wants another £7bn: health chiefs warn rising inflation has left huge hole in budget
Bosses of the ailing NHS want billions more money to keep key services up and running this winter as Rishi Sunak rules out budget cuts as part of government spending tightness.
The £152bn a year health service is seeking an extra £7bn this year – the equivalent of an extra five per cent of its budget – to counter the effects of skyrocketing inflation, wage increases and Covid costs.
Treasury chiefs have warned that vital cancer, mental health and primary care services will be cut unless the Treasury coughs up the money.
Rishi Sunak’s government confirmed yesterday that the NHS will not fall victim to budget cuts, which will be detailed in two weeks.
But the health service, described by campaigners as a “black hole in taxpayers’ money,” will have to review its spending and work more efficiently in exchange for protecting its money, Whitehall insiders say.
It comes as MPs and campaign groups have today called on the health service to sell its £12m art collection to save, rather than let hospitals remain ‘mini art galleries’. However, the money it would bring in is only a fraction of what bosses say is needed.
Hospitals are currently juggling a never-ending storm of crises hitting emergency services, ambulances and cancer care – on top of record backlogs, the looming threat of strikes and ramped-up winter pressures from Covid and flu.
HM Treasury records show that the NHS received £100.4 billion in 2010/11 and the budget had grown steadily up to 2019. In 2020, the NHS received £129.7 billion in core funding for its usual services, which was supplemented by An additional £18bn to help with the pressures of the pandemic. For 2021/22, the Treasury said the health service will receive £136.1bn of core funding, as well as £3bn to help with Covid recovery
The NHS waiting list for routine operations has passed 7 million for the first time ever. This includes nearly 390,000 patients who have had to wait more than a year for treatment
Rishi Sunak (left) told a cabinet meeting yesterday that while other departments would expect cuts, the government will ‘always’ support the NHS, which ‘will continue to take precedence’
Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, a former health minister, have warned that ‘tough decisions’ are coming to deal with a £50bn deficit in public finances.
In a November 17 autumn statement, they will detail how government spending will be cut and what tax increases will be imposed on UK households.
But the Prime Minister told a cabinet meeting yesterday that while other departments would expect cuts, No10 ‘will always support’ the NHS and ‘remain a priority’.
In return, the health service, whose budget is expected to reach £162bn by 2024, will reportedly be told to find ‘efficiencies and reforms’ to prove it won’t waste extra money, a Finance source told me. The Telegraph.
It’s because the NHS backlog in England stands at a record 7 million, latest data for August shows. It equates to one in eight people lining up for treatment, often in pain and with a condition that can worsen over time.
The health service’s own modeling for the backlog, leaked in February, revealed it won’t stop growing until it reaches 10.7 million in early 2024.
However, cabinet ministers are said to be concerned that the queue for consideration could still grow in 2025, around the next general election.
The NHS recovery plan, detailed in February by ex-health secretary Sajid Javid, said the backlog would be reduced by 2024, while one-year waiting times would be abolished by 2025.
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive Officer of NHS England, told executives last month that the NHS funding situation is a ‘f****** nightmare’.
Health bosses warned earlier this month that the NHS is running a £7bn cash shortfall for the next financial year, which is expected to reach £21bn by 2024.
Officials told an NHS meeting there was no room to cut costs without turning to core services, such as cancer, mental health and primary care – which medics and campaigners warn are already strapped for cash.
But MPs and campaigners have suggested the NHS should see how it can boost funds itself, rather than demanding more money.
A Freedom of Information request from the Taxpayers Alliance revealed today that the NHS has millions of pounds worth of art that could be sold to raise money levels.
Ambulances took an average of 47 minutes and 59 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is more than twice as long as the 18-minute target
Emergency room wait times also hit a record, with more than 30,000 patients waiting for 12 hours
An analysis of NHS data shows that the health service is carrying out fewer operations and treatment than the pre-pandemic average
While the NHS carried out a record number of cancer checks, the health service continued to fail to start treatment for the disease within two months of an urgent referral
The data showed that the NHS has 20,000 works of art, worth an estimated £12 million. NHS trusts in Fife (2,044 units), the Isle of Wight (1,992) and Cambridge (1,573) have the largest collections.
It is unclear which artwork is owned by trusts, but many pieces were donated for the benefit of patients and thus cannot be sold.
Sir Christopher Chope, Tory MP for Christchurch in Dorset, told The Telegraph the NHS should ‘look at where they can save’ rather than ‘look at their artwork’.
John O’Connell, CEO of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said that “hospitals are turning into mini art galleries.”
Meanwhile, a cap on social care costs announced by Boris Johnson last September is expected to be delayed until after the next election as part of government spending cuts.
It was due to come into force in October and would set a cap of £86,000 on those people had to spend on social care before local authorities took over the bill.
But is now expected to be delayed for at least a year to save £1bn a year.
However, the NHS and social care will still receive a £13bn increase, which would be funded by an increase in national insurance, but is now expected to be supported by other taxes.
It’s because health care’s crippled performance has fallen to an all-time low in recent months.
NHS hospitals are currently clogged with healthy patients unable to be discharged due to a lack of social care staff to take over their care. Three out of five patients are kept on the ward longer than necessary.
This so-called bed block crisis is fueling the sluggish emergency room, with too few hospital beds available to accommodate sick people who show up at the emergency room and 999 callers trapped in the back of ambulances.