How much money will the NHS need over the next 10-15 years?
The NHS Confederation is leading a study into how much money the NHS needs for the next 15 years. The move comes as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt acknowledges a new financial settlement might be need for the NHS over the next 10 years.
The confederation, together with the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Health Foundation think-tank, aim to identify challenges to the health and care system and find evidence of what is needed to work successfully.
The first of two reports will be presented at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Manchester on June 13 and 14. It will summarise UK spending trends since 2002 with projections for funding requirements up until the year 2032.
The publication will also compare the UK’s spending on health and care to that of other comparable countries before listing potential options for methods of raising additional funding.
A second report will be published towards the end of 2018 examining how well the NHS is performing.
NHS Providers has highlighted the plight of the NHS’s finances by writing to the Health Secretary over concerns about pressures on frontline services this winter. It said this is a ‘watershed moment for the NHS, and the government must accept that the service can no longer deliver what is required of it within current funding’.
The body went on to say that under present resource constraints it is impossible to meet the standards of care set out in the NHS Constitution.
Further information
Guardian: Hospital bosses tell Jeremy Hunt to spend now to rescue NHS
Guardian: The winter crisis has left the NHS running on empty — it needs a fix, now
NHS Confederation: NHS Confederation teams up with independent experts for study into health and care funding
NHS Providers: NHS at watershed moment: NHS Providers letter to the secretary of state for health and social care