Warning over cuts to NHS services without £10bn extra funding

Services may have to be cut unless NHS England receives an extra £10bn in funding next year, groups representing the health service have warned.

The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers said the money was needed to cover pandemic-related costs and reduce the backlog in operations and treatments.

They warned that patients could be put at risk without more funding.

The government said it had already provided additional money to tackle backlogs.

The organisations are concerned a three-year government spending review for England, some of which could be announced next week, will fall well short of what the NHS needs.

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The extra £10bn to run day-to-day services would be on top of the £140bn budget already planned.

Just under half would cover extra costs associated with Covid and much of the rest would be allocated to tackling waiting lists for non-urgent operations and mental health.

Waiting lists have hit record levels during the pandemic, with more than 5.45 million people waiting for NHS hospital treatment in England.

But the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers warned waiting lists could more than double if budgets increased by less than £10bn.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other NHS trusts in England, said the government "must fully recognise the extent, length and cost of the impact of Covid-19 on the NHS".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that when the NHS was given funding "we deliver in spades" - pointing to the Covid vaccine rollout as an example - but he warned that without additional cash the waiting list backlog could increase to 13 million people.

The NHS budget is already increasing. A five-year settlement will see the funding increase by £33bn by 2023-24.

But, of course, Covid has added to costs in a way that could not have been envisaged when the May government agreed the settlement three years ago.

NHS leaders say the pandemic has led to the sort of pressures that have never been seen in the history of the health service.

The layouts of hospitals have had to be overhauled, services have had to be moved off site and homed in new buildings, extra infection control procedures have been brought in and the scale of sickness being seen mean extra staff are needed to care for patients.

At the same time, there is a growing backlog of traditional care, such as hip and knee operations.

So it means next year instead of the NHS budget growing by £4bn under the existing settlement, NHS leaders want close to an extra £15bn.

And that extra money may need to stay in the budget for the following year depending on what is happening with Covid.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said trust leaders were worried that without the extra funding "they won't be able to provide prompt, high quality, safe care to all who need it".

In a joint statement, the two leaders said that "health outcomes for millions of patients" in the next three years are dependent on the "crucial" spending review decision.

"Patients genuinely are at peril," they added.

A government statement said: "We are committed to making sure the NHS has everything it needs to continue providing excellent care to the public as we tackle the backlogs that have built up during the pandemic.

"This year alone we have already provided a further £29bn to support health and care services, including an extra £1bn to tackle the backlog. This is on top of our historic settlement for the NHS in 2018, which will see its budget rise by £33.9bn by 2023-24."