New NHS Funding Desperately Needed To Improve Quality Of Patient Care, Says NHS Confederation

Responding to promises made by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson in The Sunday Times, Danny Mortimer, deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation and chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “The Prime Minister’s promise of another £1.8 billion for the health service to buy vital new equipment and upgrades of facilities is clearly welcome. This money is desperately needed to modernise services and working environments and improve the quality and efficiency of patient care. Spending on NHS buildings, equipment and digital technology is half the OECD average and woefully inadequate. There is a huge logjam of cases for investment in the NHS and there are many old buildings that cannot be adapted to deliver modern patient care.

“We support greater flexibilities to allow all members of the NHS Pension Scheme to control the value of their pension growth. We believe this will help improve capacity and patient care and we hope the Prime Minister will make rapid moves in this direction. The NHS Confederation and our members await the details of the new proposals with interest and also ask that his government commit to the reform of the taxation system applied to pensions.

“Promises to address the social care crisis are welcome but the Prime Minister’s words will be meaningless without real, concrete action to back them up. Nothing less than a sustainable, long-term funding settlement for social care in England will do. We cannot continue as we have been, and we hope the Prime Minister will follow through on this commitment.”