Commenting on the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, the Royal College of Physicians’ president Professor Jane Dacre and the Royal College of Surgeons’ president Miss Clare Marx said:
We strongly welcome the additional £3.8 billion investment the Chancellor is making available to the NHS in the coming year. However, the NHS deficit is worsening by the day, and we need to be realistic about how much of this money will be spent shoring up current services this winter.
The NHS is reaching a crucial point in its history. Demand is at an all-time high, the care needs of patients are becoming increasingly complex and the NHS is struggling to provide the standard of care patients deserve.
The money is badly needed to deliver the highest levels of patient care, ensure timely access to treatment, lead the world in research and innovation and transform the way care is delivered. Our colleges are well positioned to work with NHS England to ensure that the money goes towards transforming our NHS to provide seamless care for patients across primary, secondary, community and social care.
Additional healthcare resources however, are only one element to building a sustainable NHS. We must also reduce the number of patients requiring care which can only be done through investment in prevention. Although there was no clear update in the CSR today on public health budgets, we remain concerned that any cuts will only increase the pressures facing the NHS and significantly undermine any initial potential savings.
We also await further detail about the future funding of health education, which is vital to deliver the NHS the next generation of healthcare staff, as the protection from budget cuts is removed.
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