Chancellor Philip Hammond’s announcement of £2.8 billion extra for the NHS in England has been branded ‘disappointing’ by Natalie Beswetherick, the CSP’s director of practice and development.
The £2.8bn promised by Philip Hammond falls short of the £4bn emergency cash injection requested by the NHS chief
‘NHS chief Simon Stevens has already set out that the health service desperately needs a £4 billion emergency cash injection.’
In his autumn budget statement, the chancellor told a packed House of Commons that £350 million would be available immediately for the NHS. He said this would allow trusts to plan for this winter.
There would be a further £1.6 billion in 2018-19, with the balance available in 2019-20, he said.
But Ms Beswetherick warned: ‘This funding is not enough to enable our members to care for patients in the way that they know patients need to be cared for.’
She went on to say that research had shown that 66 per cent of the public would favour a tax increase if it went directly to pay for the health service.
‘If people are willing to pay more tax for the NHS, this would provide a more sustainable solution to funding the service.’
Unless the health service received proper investment, she predicted a very bleak future: ‘There will not be an NHS, unless we pay for it.’
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