The Guardian reports that the NHS has been given in excess of £1bn less than it needs to tackle the second wave of Covid-19, deal with the coming winter and restart routine operations. The report questions the pledge from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, at the start of the pandemic to give the NHS “whatever resources it needs” to cope with the pandemic.
The holes in hospital budgets for the rest of the year are up to £20m; this is hampering efforts to prepare properly for the service’s annual winter crisis and get back to pre-pandemic levels of surgery.
There is now tension between hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on the one hand and NHS England on the other over the sums the latter has awarded them to cover their costs for the rest of the financial year.
Full story in The Guardian, 26 October 2020