A resilient NHS cannot be built on "stop gap" measures and "patching" it up, a health leader has warned ahead of Thursday's autumn statement. Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers chief executive, told delegates at its annual conference in Liverpool she was pleading with politicians to "inject some long termism into your thinking" and to not take money away from areas such as equipment and maintaining buildings.
Next year, the NHS budget will rise to more than £157bn, but NHS England believes it will still be short of around £7bn. Ms Cordery said resilience will be significantly undermined, if on Thursday, "the Chancellor and the Health Secretary agree that it's acceptable to balance the NHS books by, yet again, raiding the hard-won capital budget". The capital budget is used for research and development and long-term investments in building and maintaining NHS land, facilities and equipment such as MRI or CT scanners.
Ms Cordery said: "After all, what is efficient about the mental health trust which has to spend hundreds of thousands every year in repairs to keep an outdated building going? What is efficient about the backlog maintenance bill having reached £10 billion rendering buildings unsafe or unusable, putting operating theatres out of action and forcing patients to be treated in substandard conditions? And finally, what is efficient about not investing in the means to digitise the NHS frontline?"
