NHS finances so dire that whole service may collapse, says spending watchdog

The UK watchdog said many NHS trusts had overspent despite their best efforts to avoid doing so. Photograph: Martin Prescott/Getty Images

The NHS’s finances are so dire that the whole health service may break unless it receives a massive cash injection, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned.

Years of underfunding have left the NHS in England so cash-strapped that it cannot treat patients quickly enough, and the rising tide of ill-health will make matters worse, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.