Spending boost ‘welcome’ but more funding needed, says NHS Confed chief exec

The NHS Confederation’s chief executive Danny Mortimer has welcomed the extra £3bn investment for the NHS announced by the government, adding that ‘additional funding’ is needed.

This weekend, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the extra £3bn for the health service, which is set to be pledged during the upcoming Spending Review on Wednesday.

The Treasury said that the extra funding will be able to help the NHS cope with backlogs in treatment and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to see the detail of the announcement, but for now we welcome investment to help clear the backlog of treatment that has built up and to help meet the extra demand for mental health services that we are now seeing,” said Mortimer

“We would expect this to be followed up soon with the additional funding that will be required to meet the extra costs of COVID-19, for example from PPE and test and trace,” he added.

Also in response to the spending announcement, the British Medical Association (BMA) said that over £10bn is needed to adequately tackle the growing backlog in care caused by COVID-19.

The BMA, a trade union representing doctors in the UK, has called on the Chancellor to make a number of commitments, both long- and short-term, to the health and social care sector.

This includes pledging at least £10.7bn to help the NHS deal with the backlog of elective care and outpatient appointments, as well as earmark an extra £12.2bn for social care by 2023/2024.

“The Chancellor this week has a golden opportunity to make good on his word, and begin to undo the damage wrought by the failure to invest in the nation’s health – none of us can afford for him to waste it,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s council chair.