NHS plans still amount to major cut as improvement pledges dropped

NHS services face major cuts despite claims by Ministers that health spending will increase above inflation in the next four years.

The Government yesterday dropped several Labour pledges for improved NHS care including free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions and cancer test results within a week.

A key Tory promise to create a 200m cancer drugs fund also appeared to be in doubt after yesterday’s review stated it would be “up to” 200m.

But Ministers said plans to increase spending from 104bn this year to 114bn by 2014-15 – equivalent to a real-term rise of 0.1 per cent each year – would mean health spending would be protected from austerity in other parts of the public sector.

Already the NHS has been told to find 20bn in productivity savings including 2bn in Yorkshire and concerns have also been raised it could pick up the cost of social care due to the 26 per cent cuts faced by local authorities.

Chancellor George Osborne yesterday promised an extra 1bn a year for social care taken from NHS funds as part of an overall 2bn of extra funding every year by 2014-15.

Kevin Austerberry, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Yorkshire, said the increase in NHS funding would still feel like a cut.

“The spending review is likely to lead to more strain on healthcare services as job losses mount up and benefits are squeezed,” he said.

Dave Prentis, from Unison, said: “The NHS is not safe. Some hospitals are already cutting back on vital life-improving operations such as cataract, hip and knee replacements. The NHS needs extra funding just to stand still.”

Nuffield Trust director Jennifer Dixon said: “In reality, unless the NHS can keep a tight grip on pay and price inflation, this will mean a reduction each year in the volume of healthcare services the NHS can deliver if current trends continue.”