Responding to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies published today (04 March) which suggests the NHS in England is going to suffer a 1.2% cut in its budget for 2024/25, Dr Tim Cooksley, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said:
“The NHS finds itself in an eternal crisis. The pressures throughout the system are perfectly and bleakly illustrated in urgent and emergency care where patients experience appalling conditions and prolonged waits which result in harm.
“There is insufficient workforce and capacity to meet the demands of an increasingly ageing population with multiple health issues with simply no resilience to cope with any excess pressure.
“This is the new normal: an appalling state for patients and for staff who are desperately trying to provide basic standards of care whilst they witness many colleagues leaving the service.
“On this background, rumours of a funding cut could be the final straw for many colleagues and cause undoubted significant harm to large numbers of patients.
“There is consensus that the situation in the NHS has never been so challenging. Funding is only part of the solution but a crucial one. A reduction at this stage could be a terminal event.”
The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/04/nhs-funding-faces-biggest-real-terms-cuts-since-1970s-warns-ifs