Nuffield Trust: Funding promised in Budget will meet NHS's day-to-day needs, but won't stretch towards government ambitions to re-build

“After over a decade of constrained funding, NHS finances prior to this Budget were perilous. The funding promised today will meet the health service’s immediate day-to-day needs, but will not stretch far towards the government’s ambitions to re-build an ailing NHS. 

“The increase in the overall Department of Health and Social Care budget is sufficient to meet the urgent £4.8bn funding gap facing the NHS in England. However, it is less clear how non-NHS health spending, such as for public health, will fare once those unavoidable immediate pressures in the NHS have been addressed. The Secretary of State has been correct to caution ahead of time that patients are unlikely to notice rapid improvements in their care.  
 
“Government is right to want to shift care from hospital to community, but with most funding released today seemingly targeted towards hospitals, eyes will turn to the Spending Review to secure money needed for transformation. 

 “Increases in local authority budgets are welcome, but they face hugely difficult decisions on where to spend to meet myriad local needs. The £600m social care grant announced for next year will be insufficient to enable councils to keep pace with demand. 
 
“Changes to the carers’ allowance are a positive development. But while the national minimum wage and living wage increases will benefit much-valued care staff, they will put buckling council and provider budgets under pressure. On top of this, higher national insurance rates will pile still more costs onto organisations which provide care, many of which are already struggling. With no specific support to cover these costs, care providers are likely to face financial collapse, or difficult choices to pass higher costs on to people who pay for their own care.

“It is disappointing that today’s Budget does little to stabilise the beleaguered social care sector in the immediate term, and that the supporting rhetoric made no mention at all of the future reform it so desperately needs.”