Health service leaders have warned the government that hospitals will have to start cutting services unless the NHS receives £8 billion of additional funding this week.
The Treasury and NHS England are involved in a standoff over the service’s demand for the cash, which is still unresolved with just 16 days to go until the start of the 2021-22 financial year. NHS bosses believe they need to receive £8 billion in 2021-22 over and above the service’s main budget, which covers its day-to-day running costs. That is to cover expenses the pandemic has thrown up, such as coronavirus testing for frontline staff, personal protective equipment and infection control measures.
Now, hospital bosses have warned that the NHS will not be able to tackle the huge backlog of surgery that has built up during the pandemic unless it gets the money to cover additional costs resulting from coronavirus.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has sent a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak cautioning that if the Treasury did not agree this week to provide an agreed sum it would leave ‘too many services in a perilous position at the start of the ‘recovery phase’ as the NHS plots a way out of the pandemic’. This is because of the continued impact of the pandemic, as well as the scale of the treatment backlog and additional demands for long Covid and mental health.
Mortimer said: “We understand the impact the pandemic has had on public finances and the uncertainty this has caused. But it is simply not possible for the NHS to fully recover services, while still dealing with the pandemic, unless there is an agreed budget for next year. NHS leaders are struggling to comprehend why they are in this position and they desperately require certainty.
“The Chancellor promised to give the NHS ‘whatever resources’ it needed to meet the extra costs of responding to the pandemic. However, we are concerned that this commitment hasn’t translated into a finalised budget with just over two weeks to go. NHS organisations cannot be expected to absorb these ongoing costs in their current budgets.
“Should the Treasury’s budget discussions with the NHS fail to conclude this week, then we face the real prospect of some services having to be cut back. Tough decisions on priorities will be inevitable. No one wants to be put in this position but planning for service delivery in April and beyond is nigh on impossible without a confirmed budget in place. As we begin our path to recovery, we now need clarity from the Chancellor and the government.”
Sunak did not award the NHS any increase in its income for 2021-22 in his 3 March budget, though he did give it £3 billion extra – for the surgery backlog and mental health care – in his autumn statement last November.
