Health Foundation’s comment on David Cameron’s pledges on the NHS

Prime Minister David Cameron has today announced his party’s intention to ringfence the NHS budget in the next Parliament. His pledge has been made in his final speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, where he claimed that key to a stable NHS is a stable economy.

Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, comments:

'Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech today confirmed that a future Conservative government would ringfence the NHS budget over the course of the next Parliament, which is of course welcome. In 2015/16 alone the NHS will have a hole in its finances to the sum of £2bn. Spending pressures are expected to increase by £30bn by the end of the decade but most estimates suggest that productivity savings will meet just a third of this. There is no quick fix.

'Our More than money: closing the NHS quality gap report which was launched last week argues that we need an increase in ongoing funding for the NHS above and beyond inflation, alongside a new transformation fund to support changes in the way that care is delivered. But we believe that money itself is not enough. What is needed is capability support for providers of health care working to deliver integrated care. Such support might include building skills in basic management, change management, improvement skills and analysis, all with the objective of improving quality and efficiency. Further to this we appeal for candid dialogue between politicians and both the public and NHS about the challenges, and why significant change is needed now.'

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