There have been repeated calls for the Chancellor to invest at least an additional £16billion a year in the NHS “as the bare minimum needed to reduce waiting times and improve frontline services for patients” – as Wes Streeting joins growing warnings that the Labour government’s current plans are not enough.
According to reports in The Times, the Labour Party Health Secretary is said to have privately warned the Chancellor that current plans for a 4% – approximately £8billion – increase will not be enough to make a significant difference to the NHS as much of it will be swallowed up in higher wage bills and inflationary costs.
A senior party source told the newspaper “He told her (Rachel Reeves) that Labour couldn’t sell this as a budget to save the NHS because it’s not enough money to make a transformative difference.
“The amount of money you need just to stand still means that the health service will still struggle to see significant improvements in patient care and waiting times.”
It follows multiple warnings from health experts that the leaked plan to raise NHS spending by just 4% won’t be enough to make a difference.
On Friday, a report from the Nuffield Trust warned the NHS is heading for an “unfunded overspend of £4.8 billion”, “principally driven by higher-than-planned-for staff pay deals”, and warned cuts to services are “inevitable” unless the Chancellor delivers a significant increase in funding.
The trust warned the NHS is already facing “eye-wateringly high and historically unprecedented efficiency savings” and that an increase of around 4% would only be enough to “manage current day to day cost pressures”.
It said more money would be needed to deliver planned staffing increases and keep up with the healthcare demands of an ageing population.
Separately, the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for a minimum of £13billion extra a year.
Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, has warned of a “near £14billion maintenance backlog” and the recent NHS report by Lord Darzi concluded “there is a shortfall of £37 billion of capital investment.
These missing billions are what would have been invested if the NHS had matched peer countries’ levels of capital investment in the 2010s.”
The warnings come as new research, published by the SNP, found the UK government spends less on healthcare per person than almost every other country in north west Europe.
On average, our European neighbours spent £5,654 per person per year on healthcare between 2000 and 2023, compared to just £4,609 for the UK.
That is a gap of more than a thousand pounds (£1,045) of healthcare spending per person every year.
In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available for all countries, the UK government spent less on health than thirteen of the fourteen countries in north west Europe.
It spent £7,963 per person, which was £5,097 – almost forty per cent – less than Norway (£13,060), £3,288 less than Germany (29%), £3,255 less than Switzerland (29%), £2,916 less than Luxembourg (27%), £1,894 less than Ireland (19%), £1,836 less than the Netherlands (19%), £1,679 less than Denmark (17%), £1,533 less than Austria (16%), £1,524 less than Sweden (16%), £954 less than France (11%), £845 less than Iceland (10%), and £589 less than Belgium (7%).
The research also found that the UK has fewer doctors and nurses per head than our European neighbours – and has done for every single year of the 21st century.
At the latest count, the UK had fewer than 9 practising nurses per 1000 population.
In contrast, every other country in north west Europe had more nurses per head, with Finland and Switzerland having more than double the number of nurses per head than the UK, at 19 per 1000 population.
A funding boost of £16billion would deliver an additional £1.6billion in Barnett consequentials to spend on healthcare in Scotland, and it would be a start in closing the gap with our European neighbours, raising UK spending by around £238 per person.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Health spokesperson Seamus Logan MP said:
“The Labour government must abandon its plans to impose billions of pounds of austerity cuts – and instead deliver the meaningful investment that public services need.
“That means delivering at least an additional £16billion a year for the NHS.
“It is the bare minimum required to reduce waiting times, and improve frontline services for patients, after years of chronic underfunding and understaffing from Westminster.
“The fact that Wes Streeting’s allies are briefing against the Chancellor, and warning her pitiful plans will impoverish – not improve – services, shows how damaging the Labour government’s austerity plans are for the NHS in Scotland and every part of the UK.
“Talk of a standstill budget settlement of just 4% – or £8billion – is nowhere near enough given the huge pressures the NHS has faced from years of Westminster austerity cuts, sky-high inflation, covid backlogs, Brexit, and the challenges of an ageing population.
“It will make Anas Sarwar look ridiculous when he jumps up and down at Holyrood demanding the Scottish Government work miracles on a shoestring budget from Westminster.
“The fact that the UK government has lagged behind our European neighbours on health spending and staffing in every year of the 21st century shows that more can and must be done.
“A £16billion increase is the bare minimum needed to begin closing the gap, and it would deliver an additional £1.6billion for NHS Scotland.
“The NHS needs investment if it is to deliver the best possible healthcare.
“Hospitals won’t build themselves, the best medication and equipment won’t buy itself, and you can’t recruit more doctors and nurses, or reduce waiting lists, without adequate investment.
“The Labour government will damage the NHS in every part of the UK, if it continues to starve our public services of the investment they need.
“As Wes Streeting says – all roads lead back to Westminster.
“It’s vital the Chancellor delivers meaningful investment now.”