NHS leaders welcome £6bn budget increase but say more is needed

NHS leaders have welcomed Jeremy Hunt’s £6bn budget boost for the struggling service to help it meet growing demand, tackle a backlog of care and overhaul outdated IT systems.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned on Monday it would receive less funding next year than it will thereafter, with the chancellor allocating an extra £2.5bn to the NHS to cover day-to-day running costs in 2024/25.

The increase means the NHS will have a budget of £164.9bn next year, compared with £163.2bn this year, meaning former health secretary Hunt should avoid the political embarrassment of cutting the country’s most popular budget. Public Service.

Julian Hartley, chief executive of hospital body NHS Providers, said the funding would provide the service with a “much-needed but temporary respite” and provide “some respite” from the service’s severe financial difficulties space,” these difficulties are compounded by inflation and health care costs. Long strike by NHS staff.

But NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said the £2.5bn “barely touches… [and] It may just stop the service situation from getting worse”.

Hunt also announced a further £3.4bn to fund plans to boost NHS productivity. However, it will be spread over three years and will not arrive until 2025/26. Of this amount, £2 billion will be used to modernize what the Treasury says are “fragmented and outdated IT systems in the NHS, cutting 13 million hours wasted by doctors every year and saving up to £4 billion over five years”.

A further £430m will be spent on improving patient access to care to help reduce waiting lists and the delays many people face in accessing treatment, for example through greater use of NHS apps.

However, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said little could be done to stabilize England’s crumbling adult social care system, with Hunter’s budget leading to continued strains on resources.

Anna Hemmings, co-chief executive of ADASS, said: “Millions of adults and carers will be disappointed. “Directors are unable to provide adequate early support for people closer to home, which results in They cannot require hospital or inpatient care at a higher cost.”

Age UK, a charity that supports older people, said the outlook for social care “remains extremely bleak”. “On behalf of seniors, people with disabilities and their unpaid caregivers, we regret that the budget does nothing to address this issue,” said Director Carolyn Abrahams.

Hunt recognized the market failure of the state’s reliance on private companies to provide children’s residential care and announced a £165 million investment in improving children’s homes to reduce profiteering.

Recent official figures show the number of children in temporary accommodation has increased by 14% in a year, the number of children sleeping rough has increased by 27%, and there are few solutions to the housing crisis, which poses a growing risk to public health . The National Housing Federation believes 90,000 new social homes need to be built each year to meet demand, but there is no new funding to build them.

Capital gains tax on landlords selling properties has been slashed from 27% to 24%, but housing campaigners say this could leave thousands of tenants homeless as more landlords sell.