Forum Brief: Spending Review - Health

Patients will continue to benefit from increased investment in the health service, as the chancellor reaffirmed the historic funding increase for the NHS of 7.2 per cent increases per year above inflation until 2007/08.

Social services will receive 2.7 per cent increases above inflation for the three years up to 2007/08 to support more older people to live in their own homes.

Government Response: Department of Health

Health secretary John Reid said: "This historic increase in resources allows us to maintain an NHS - the best insurance policy in the world - free at the point of use, but increasingly personal and responsive to the needs of individual patients.

"By 2008, the maximum wait for hospital treatment will have fallen from 18 months to 18 weeks and patients will have more choice and control over their care than ever before.

"Extra resources will help people to lead longer, healthier lives, through an increased commitment to tackle public health problems and to support the 17.5 million people with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

"Health and social care will work better together to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and support larger numbers of older people to live in their own home. This is a national health service to meet the expectations of all for the 21st century."

Forum Response: NHS Confederation

Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "We welcome this sustained investment in the NHS.  It is a lot of money but there is a lot to do.  It is important to remember that there is a huge and ambitious programme of change to be implemented and a backlog caused by 30 years of underinvestment.

 

"We would like to see a greater proportion of this resource put towards dealing with inequalities in health.  There is a genuine case for treating investment in health and reducing inequalities as though it were a capital investment and therefore protecting it from operational pressures."

 

Forum Response: Leonard Cheshire

 

John Knight, head of policy at Leonard Cheshire, said: "The NHS and social care services are inter-dependent and in the rush to push more money into the NHS, social care services are getting left behind. This will hold back progress across the board.  If the money the chancellor is ploughing into the NHS is going to be really effective then he must also invest equally in social services.

 

"All increases in funding to frontline health services are very warmly welcomed, but the chancellor’s announcement means that the gap between social services and the National Health Service continues to get wider.

 

"This means that some people who cannot access social care services may find that their needs are exacerbated, throwing people into acute NHS care. This artificial demand is avoidable and serves only to undermine both the NHS and disabled people."

 

"If local authorities can in the future plan three years ahead then they have no excuse for holding back in offering full and fair longer term contracts to care providers. The chancellor has given the councils more freedom to plan – now the councils must pass that benefit on to the care providers."