NHS Confederation has urged political leaders to link health and social care funding to economic growth.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has called on campaigning political leaders to pledge to spend a fixed percentage of GDP on health spending, linking it with the success of the economy.
NHS Confederation has urged political leaders to link health and social care funding to economic growth.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has called on campaigning political leaders to pledge to spend a fixed percentage of GDP on health spending, linking it with the success of the economy.
He said: ‘As the economy grows, so should health and care spending. This would establish more certainty around future investment and greater clarity on the collective view of what resources are needed to deliver safe and effective services.
‘We currently spend 10% of GDP on health and care funding, which is significantly less than the comparable economies of France and Germany.’
He added that the incoming Government should establish a one-off ‘transformation fund’ of at least £2bn a year for the next two years to meet the immediate needs of the health and social care system.
He said: ‘It is time for society as a whole to face up to the health and care challenge and to bring evidence and some certainty to what is one of the greatest challenges facing this country.
‘This election is understandably going to be dominated by Brexit, but unless we act soon we will face another daunting issue – a health and care system that is simply incapable of meeting modern needs.
‘Already one in eight elderly people in England are being denied the social care support they need and the number of over-85s in the UK, who are the greatest users of health and care, is set to double over the next 20 years.’
To meet patient demand through better integration, Mr Dickson also called for the Department of Health to be replaced by the Department of Health and Care to enable better co-operation between the two sectors.
