Tough times ahead for the NHS

18 Dec 2008

Senior people in the health service have warned that the economic downturn will present the NHS with big challenges.

The NHS in England currently has a surplus of funding but leading figures have warned that this will be eaten into when public spending is reduced.

Nigel Edwards of the NHS confederation said that there may be more demand for healthcare during a recession.

In England, average increases of 5.5% have been promised for the next two financial years. Spending on the health service is then expected to slow down.

Patricia Hewitt and Stephen Dorell, both former health secretaries, said that the NHS should use the surplus money to speed up change within the service.

Hewitt said that Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), who manage 80% of the NHS budget in England, face “touch decisions”.

She recommended that PCTs focus on “patient outcomes rather than the health of different provider organisations”.

Stephen Dorrell, Conservative Secretary of State for Health from 1995 to 1997, warned that a recession could put pressure on the NHS due to increased stress and depression.

He added that the NHS could be asked to make significant savings as a result of government tax cuts.

The chief executive of the NHS, David Nicholson, said: “These are challenging times for the NHS, but we are confident that the additional resources and the reforms we have put in place over the last 10 years mean we can continue to deliver improvements in care for patients.”

Georgina Sheldon, a medical law solicitor at Patientlawyers.com, said: “The financial challenges predicted for the NHS are obviously of concern to our clients whose experience of the NHS at the present time is often of a service whose resources are already stretched and whose staff are working under a considerable amount of pressure.

The NHS will need to carefully manage any increased demands on its financial resources to ensure that it does not lead to an increased number of complaints and legal claims against it.”

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