The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, representing NHS Trusts and health organisations, have warned the government the NHS needs an additional £3billion to cover costs not taken into account by the Chancellor when setting her budget.  These include the costs of restructuring and specifically redundancies, following the abolition of NHS England, strikes, and additional cost of medicines.

This will no doubt pose a financial headache for the government, albeit the Department of Health has stated that it is committed to “properly funding” the NHS.  The BBC highlights a quote from the Chief Executive of NHS Confederation who states:

“The threat from un-budgeted redundancy payments, higher drug prices and renewed industrial action risks derailing progress on key waiting time targets and the wider reforms that are essential to getting the NHS back on track.”

Long term restructuring will of course come with a financial cost, but if these figures are accurate it is of course of paramount importance that they are taken into account and resources provided, so as not to jeopardise the government’s ambitions for the NHS and to continue to reduce waiting lists. 

The systemic pressures and under resourcing can inevitably lead to substandard care and are a real threat to patient safety, so it is imperative that our dedicated doctors and healthcare workers are given the necessary tools to do their job.  Clinical negligence claims are rarely about one deliberate act – doctors view their duty to patients as sacrosanct.  They are usually the result of systemic failures: a poorly completed handover, a missed red flag on a patient file, a failure to escalate concerns due to an overwhelming workload. When managers and staff are distracted by job uncertainty and working with less support, those systemic vulnerabilities can become critical points of failure.

My message to the government is that the financial reality must be met with an honest assessment, as called for by NHS Providers. Attempting to implement reform without covering the associated costs is a recipe for disaster which will ultimately result in increased dissatisfaction and further reputational damage to the service.  The November budget clearly has a lot to deliver.