LONDON: Leaders of England’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) warned yesterday that billions of pounds in extra funds were needed to maintain patient care, laying down the gauntlet to politicians ahead of May’s general election.
A new analysis by NHS bodies set out plans for major savings over the next five years by changing the way they operate, such as focusing on public health issues such as obesity and smoking, and reorganising local care.
But it warned these changes would not close a predicted £30bn ($48bn) funding shortfall by 2020, saying that central government must increase the money it provides by another 1.5 percent a year above inflation — about £8bn a year.
“Healthcare in this country has improved dramatically over recent years and has weathered recent financial storms with remarkable resilience,” said NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, at the launch of the report. But he warned: “The NHS is now at a crossroads — as a country we need to decide which way to go.”
Stevens, who took over earlier this year, later told BBC radio that extra government funding was “perfectly feasible as the economy improves”.
The proposed increase goes well beyond what either Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party or the opposition have promised they will provide if they win next May’s general election.
AFP
