Budget ‘will freeze’ NHS spending
pharmafile | March 25, 2010 | News story | | NHS funding, king's fund
Frontline NHS funding will only rise with inflation and the Department of Health must make substantial cost savings under the government’s latest Budget.
Savings of £4.35 billion will have to be found from healthcare spending and unnecessary prescribing is one area that will be under scrutiny.
The Department of Health already has a £15-20bn “quality and productivity challenge” to meet, and the Budget outlined a number of areas where the government believes savings can be made to help meet that challenge.
They include saving an estimated £1.5bn by reducing unnecessary prescribing and referrals, more effective commissioning of services and improving mental health services.
Health think tank The King’s Fund said the budget would effectively freeze healthcare spending.
Chief economist Professor John Appleby said: “Politicians will need to be honest about the scale of the challenge ahead and help the public to understand that some of their services may need to change in order to improve efficiency and maintain quality.
“This Budget confirms what we already knew – that despite a small rise next year, NHS spending will be frozen in real terms for the foreseeable future.”
Health Secretary Andy Burnham acknowledged there were difficult decisions to make, but said the NHS budget was in a strong position after a decade of record investment.
“By making tough efficiency savings we can continue to increase real terms resources available for patient care year by year. Work on this has already begun and delivering these efficiencies will be an historic achievement.”
Measures to help the Department meet its £4.35bn savings target include:
• Up to £1.5bn from more effective procurement agreements for good and services
• £100 million from taking a new approach to the National Programme for IT
• £60m from making a 10% cut in carbon emissions and reducing the amount of energy the NHS uses
• Up to £70m from a more efficient use of NHS estates
• Up to £555m from reducing staff sickness
Related Content
Government unveils £20bn plan to revitalise NHS in England
Theresa May and the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, have announced a new …
Conservative announce NHS to receive a further £8 billion by 2020
The Conservative Government has confirmed the NHS will receive £10 billion in funding by 2020 …
NHS ‘close to breaking point’
England’s NHS is ‘stretched close to breaking point’ and the next five years are likely …
