Government’s NHS funding pledge ‘less generous than first appears’

Health Foundation anaylsis reveals that improving NHS standards will require £6 billion more funding than the Government is currently committed to.

The government’s funding bill for the NHS will deliver less than half the amount repeatedly promised by ministers, experts have warned.

Legislation on health spending completed its passage through the House of Commons on Monday, but the Health Foundation think tank has warned the bill falls short of providing the NHS with the money needed to prevent services from declining.

It also warned the money only increased the budget of NHS England and ignored other key spending on the NHS workforce and public health as well as social care, which it said were all pivotal to the wider stability and functioning of the health service.

Full story on The Independent, 7 February 2020.