NHS ‘headed for financial ruin’
- International Medical Press
- 10 Nov 15
Christopher Smallwood, Chairman of St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London, has described ‘an accelerating financial disaster’ for hospitals, stating that ‘hardened professionals who have worked in the service for decades have never seen anything like it.’
Writing for the Guardian, he said: ‘Two years ago a quarter of hospitals recorded deficits. Last year, this rose to half. This year, three–quarters of hospitals are running deficits, some of them extremely large – and 90%...expect to be in deficit by the end of the year.’
Mr Smallwood also warns of eroding standards of care, writing: ‘Waiting times for cancer treatment, and in A&E departments, are now missed routinely, as is the minimum wait for diagnostic tests. And the waiting target for elective procedures has been abandoned.’ He added: ‘Missed targets trigger fines of many millions of pounds, intensifying financial pressures. The queues will go on lengthening.’
Claiming that ‘Ministers are in denial about what is happening’, Mr Smallwood continued: ‘The past five years have seen the smallest increase in health spending over any parliament since the second world war – 0.8% a year. This compares with an annual increase in demand and cost pressures of between 4% and 5%.’
Mr Smallwood concluded that ‘Those drawing up the autumn statement need to be aware of these realities,’ explaining: ‘Even if the efficiency gains achieved in the next five years matched those of the past five, the government would need to increase annual budgets by £2bn-£3bn a year between now and 2020 to preserve standards. But since the NHS cannot continue to raise productivity at this rate, at least £4bn a year extra will be necessary, starting in April.
