Academy response to the Spending Review

Professor Carrie MacEwen, Chair of the Academy said,

‘The Academy has long made clear that for NHS England’s long term plan to be successful in ensuring the sustainability of the NHS there also needs to be sufficient funding for those areas not covered by the increase in NHS funding announced in 2018 – namely; capital expenditure, education and training, social care and public health.

The announcement of £1.5bn for social care in the spending review statement, as well as the increases in funding for education and training and capital expenditure show that our message is getting through. This is clearly the right direction of travel although in all cases the need is for sustained funding and not just plugging the current gaps. It is though disappointing not to see specific funding for public health and prevention which plays a crucial role in reducing pressure on other healthcare services.

The Chancellor’s statement also said that the allocation for direct NHS spending would be £6.2bn next year – a higher than expected figure.

It will be important to understand the detail of the proposals and that the funding is genuinely additional resource rather than recycled money.’