June 2018 NHS investment
How to fund the NHS in the long-term is one of the most pressing and potent political issues facing the country. Demand for the NHS only continues to rise, and as the population ages, there are a growing number of widespread chronic conditions which will be increasingly expensive and challenging to address, without a credible and effective plan to fund the NHS and social care.
The Prime Minister recently announced the Government's intention to provide the NHS with an additional £20.5 billion by 2023/24. This new investment is extremely welcome, and I hope you agree it demonstrates the Government's commitment to properly funding our NHS and public services.
Alongside this, the NHS is expected to come up with a ten year plan to demonstrate how it will continue to improve patient care, offer world-class services, and increase productivity, which is so important in a taxpayer funded healthcare system. This will be further supported by a £10 billion programme of capital investment, to help the NHS build world-class infrastructure, as well as additional support for social care services.
While the details of how this funding will be provided will be unveiled by the Chancellor, I hope I can assure you that my ministerial colleagues are working to provide a solution which provides the NHS with the investment it needs, and is financially sustainable in the long run. It is essential that our public services are supported by a strong and healthy economy, and I have every faith that the Government will foster the growth and economic dynamism the NHS needs to thrive.
I am proud of the Government's recent record on the NHS. Despite difficult financial circumstances, NHS investment has increased every year since 2010, and I believe this new investment will help to secure the NHS for the future.
November 2017 Budget update:
- The government is committed to making funding available for public services where it is needed most. That is why the government endorsed the NHS’s Five Year Forward View and funded it with £10 billion more a year for the NHS by 2020-21. However, even with that funding, the health service remains under pressure with more people than expected using NHS services each year.
- 2. The government is therefore providing £6.3 billion of new funding for the NHS in England. This is a significant increase to the NHS’s budget and will improve the service that patients receive in A&E, reduce waiting times for treatment after referral, and put the NHS on a stronger, more sustainable footing. Specifically, this Budget announces:
- £2.8 billion of additional resource funding over 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for the NHS in England for day to day spending, for example surgeries and treatments. This will help it to get back on track to meet its performance targets on waiting times in A&E and after patients are referred to treatment. It will ensure that more patients receive the care that they need more quickly
- £3.5 billion of capital investment for buildings and facilities in the NHS in England by 2022-23, including: o £2.6 billion for the NHS’s Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships for improvements in facilities which will help local areas deliver more integrated care for patients, and better meet demand for services. The government is provisionally allocating the first 10% of this to the highest quality bids from Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships with the strongest potential to help them meet future demand and develop local clinical and financial accountability. Funding will be made available to the schemes listed below subject to the usual approvals processes. The remainder of the funding will be allocated in due course
- £700 million to support turnaround plans in the trusts facing the biggest challenges, and to tackle the most urgent and critical maintenance issues – to help ensure every patient is treated in a safe environment, with the highest quality of care
- £200 million to support efficiency programmes that will, for example, help reduce NHS energy bills, and fund technology that will allow more staff time to be directed towards treating patients
- £3.5 billion of capital investment for buildings and facilities in the NHS in England by 2022-23, including: o £2.6 billion for the NHS’s Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships for improvements in facilities which will help local areas deliver more integrated care for patients, and better meet demand for services. The government is provisionally allocating the first 10% of this to the highest quality bids from Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships with the strongest potential to help them meet future demand and develop local clinical and financial accountability. Funding will be made available to the schemes listed below subject to the usual approvals processes. The remainder of the funding will be allocated in due course
- A commitment to funding pay awards for NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract (such as nurses, midwifes, and paramedics) that are agreed as part of a deal with the unions to improve productivity. Final decisions on the level of NHS pay awards will be subject to the usual independent Pay Review Body process
- 3. This funding should enable the NHS to: •meet the A&E four-hour target during the course of next year • make significant inroads into the waiting list and improve performance against waiting times targets • upgrade hospitals and other NHS facilities across England
Existing commitments
By committing additional grant funding of £2 billion to social care in England over the next three years, with new measures to support more joined-up working in the worst-performing authorities, I am encouraged that the Government is responding to calls for further support to Social Care.
Alongside that, the Government will make a further £100 million available immediately for up to 100 new triage projects at A&E in English hospitals in time for next winter.
This will provide immediate benefit to our NHS, and stands alongside our commitment to deliver a £10 billion real terms increase in annual NHS finding by 2020.The Government is integrating and improving health and social care to protect people at every stage of their lives. Local authorities will be given greater powers so they can raise up to £2 billion by the end of this Parliament for adult social care through the introduction of a social care precept. This will be supported by making extra funds available for local government from 2017, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20 and to be included in the Better Care Fund. This will ensure that spending on social care will have risen in real terms by the end of this Parliament and protect the most vulnerable in society.
The Government has committed to unprecedented levels of mental health funding, including £1.25 billion for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health, helping professionals to intervene early. To support teenagers with eating disorders, the Government has also invested £150 million.
The NHS will earmark an extra £2.4 billion a year for GP services by 2020/21, a 14 per cent real terms increase. Overall investment in primary medical care includes a £500 million Sustainability and Transformation package to help GP practices add to the workforce and tackle workload.
On top of this, to secure the best value for taxpayers, the Government has introduced tough new financial controls to cut down on waste in the NHS, including introducing caps for agency staff and management consultants, and introducing central procurement rules. The Government has also introduced a £1.8 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund in 2016/17 to support providers to move to a financially sustainable footing.