NHS Confederation has announced a new partnership to produce a comprehensive study into health and care funding.
The body will work with the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Health Foundation (HF) to conduct a 15-year study, which will look at the funding needs of the UK’s health and care system.
‘Intolerable pressures’
NHS Confederation has announced a new partnership to produce a comprehensive study into health and care funding.
The body will work with the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Health Foundation (HF) to conduct a 15-year study, which will look at the funding needs of the UK’s health and care system.
‘Intolerable pressures’
Niall Dickson, NHS Confederation chief executive, said that ‘as just about everyone recognises, the pressures on the health and care system are becoming intolerable’.
He said: ‘Now is the time to have an objective assessment of what we need over the next 10 to 15 years to stimulate debate about what we as a society are willing to pay for and what we can expect from our health and care system.
‘We see this important, independent assessment as a first step towards achieving a more rounded and considered debate about the long-term future of these vital services.’
Funding cuts
In the recent public health allocations document, the Government revealed it would cut public health funding by £170m over the next two years, as reported in our sister publication Pulse.
With mounting pressures within the NHS, the initiative is designed to identify the current challenges in healthcare services and bring financial insight into a sustainable NHS.
Anita Charlesworth, HF director of research and economics, said that ‘the health and care system in the UK has too often been subject to boom and bust planning and short-term decisions’.
She said: ‘It is time for a longer-term approach to planning, and this requires accurate research and analysis of the pressures the NHS will face in the future.’
The work will also analyse and compare the UK’s health and care spending to that of other similar countries before listing possible solutions to create additional funding.
The first of two reports will be presented at the Confederation’s annual conference in June, summarising the UK spending trends over the last 15 years and presenting funding requirements projections until 2032.
A second report will be published at the end of 2018 examining how well the NHS is performing compared to its principle of providing a service ‘that meets the needs of everyone’.
