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NHS: George Osborne to promise an extra £2bn of funding
Chancellor George Osborne is expected use his Autumn statement on Wednesday to announce an extra £2bn funding for frontline NHS services.
It is anticipated that Osborne will pledge extra funding from April next year, according to the BBC.
In a speech to parliament on Wednesday, when he will deliver exact details on its spending plans, Osborne will claim that due to a “growing economy” and a “tight control over finances” the government can afford the £2bn funding.
Osborne will say:
Here’s a simple truth: you can’t have a strong NHS without a strong economy to pay for it. If you don’t have a long term plan for the economy, you don’t have a plan for the future of the NHS.We have both. It is because our economy is growing, and we’ve kept a tight control on the finances, that we can do more for the NHS.I can confirm that we will invest an extra £2bn next year in our frontline NHS, across the UK.This will support the day-to-day work of our incredible nurses, doctors and other NHS staff; but it is also a down-payment on the future of our health service.
The chancellor is also expected to use his speech to back a five-year plan put together by six national health bodies to eradicate the NHS’ £30bn deficit.
The NHS Forward View report has put forward a number of measures designed to make the NHS better equipped to deal with a UK that lives longer, cut costs and curb the rise in hospital admissions.
The report had argued its existing budget of £100bn was not enough to meet costs, and that the future of the NHS depended on improved efficiency.
Osborne will say:
I endorse this Forward View as the way to deliver a world class and universal NHS that is sustainable for the long term.
Labour has pledged to increase the NHS budget by £2.5bn a year if it gains power at the next election, a move which would be part-funded by its controversial mansion tax.