- Health chiefs warn that NHS needs reform to continue operating
- Patients warned they may have to pay for drugs or to see their GP
- Shortages are already affecting care with increased AE wait times
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Health chiefs have warned that an NHS black hole means patients may have to start paying for services – days after Norman Lamb (pictured) said the health service must spend its budget more wisely
A multi billion-pound black hole in NHS finances means that patients will have to get used to either being charged for treatment or paying increased taxes, health chiefs have warned.
In a stark analysis of the dangers facing the Health Service, the leaders of medical royal colleges and patients groups said it was ‘creaking at the seams’ and cannot carry on as it is.
The funding crisis is so dire that, in future, trusts may have to consider charging for GP appointments and asking patients to contribute towards the cost of drugs.
The warning comes just days after a health minister admitted that by the end of the decade, the NHS will face a funding gap of £30billion a year – with ‘dire’ consequences for patients.
The Mail revealed on Saturday that Norman Lamb had told an audience of Liberal Democrats last month that ‘absolutely vital services’ will have to be cut if the Health Service does not spend its £100billion-a-year budget more efficiently.
Shortages are already beginning to affect the NHS, with some patients being denied cancer drugs and longer waiting lists for AE and cancer treatment. The Health Service also needs 3,000 more midwives.
Yet despite this, the NHS has found tens of millions to spend on cosmetic surgery such as facelifts, nose jobs, liposuction and breast augmentation.
Every week there are now 164 taxpayer-funded nose jobs, 37 liposuction procedures, 22 facelifts and 273 breast enlargements being carried out on the cash-strapped Health Service.
In a letter to the Times, health experts concurred with Mr Lamb on the scale of the black hole.
Senior figures including Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, and Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, warned that by 2020 the NHS will require an additional £30billion to maintain the current level of service provision.
‘The status quo is not an option,’ they wrote. ‘We are already seeing the signs of the system creaking at the seams.
‘All financial options are difficult politically; higher tax spend, co-payments or changes to what is available.’
Patients have been warned that they face paying for drugs or GPs’ appointments if the funding gap cannot be closed
The nine signatories called for more to be done to improve the efficiency of the NHS and address the ‘budget crisis’ affecting it as people enjoy longer life expectancies.
‘More must be done by us all to eliminate inefficiencies and wasteful variation in care, and apply technology to transform care delivery,’ the letter said.
‘Resources and vigorous service reform must go hand-in-hand. Business as usual won’t do.’
They call for an ‘honest, open dialogue’ on the issue, adding that unpopular moves – such as hospital closures – may need to be considered.
‘We need a new settlement; a fundamental, holistic agreement with the country on what health and social care should be, how and where it is delivered to maximise the quality of care, and how it should be paid for,’ the letter said.
‘We believe the route is an all-party-mandated, independently conducted “national conversation†on the scope, provision and funding of health and social care.’
The letter was also signed by Sir John Oldham of the Independent Commission on Whole Person Care, Jeremy Hughes of the Alzheimer’s Society, Dr Jean-Pierre Van Besouw of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Chris Hopson of the Foundation Trust Network, Ciaran Devane of Macmillan Cancer Support, Lord Adebowale of Turning Point.
Mr Devane and Lord Adebowale are both non-executive directors of NHS England, which is responsible for most of the health budget.
Sir John said: ‘It would require productivity gains greater than what was achieved during the Industrial Revolution to bridge the gap, and the NHS has never been close to that.’
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: ‘The NHS will remain free at the point of use.
‘We are already dealing with the challenge of a growing, ageing population by moving to a system geared towards prevention rather than just treatment by improving community care to keep people living healthier at home for longer.’
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bexhillbill,
Bexhill-on-sea, United Kingdom,
4 hours ago
We have too many people in this country. We have an open door policy to the EU. Even if we opt out in 2017 the damage is done. The NHS can not survive in its past or even present form.
Victoria,
Chorley_Lancashire,
4 hours ago
Excuse me but doesn’t every working taxpayer contribute towards the NHS already? What about ‘health tourists’, visitors to the UK? etc, etc, A system should be introduce whereby these people should pay for the treatment they receive – it happens in every other country? Go to places like America and the first question is regarding your insurance! Charge a fee for an interpreter, charge a fee for individuals who turn up at AE with minor complaints which should go to a GP! We have a fabulous service which is so much abused because we accept absolutely anyone and anything! Forget charging everyone and pick out the ones who abuse the system!
Loops,
UK, United Kingdom,
4 hours ago
Why should the taxpayer bail out an organisation that treats people who aren’t entitled to use the services, treats people who abuse the services, treats people who don’t have illnesses and pays executive staff like they work for google?
hapenny23,
Rouen,
4 hours ago
Well, here in France I have to pay E23 to go and see my doctor, no-one seems to turn a hair.
Dada,
Out of the Way, United Kingdom,
5 hours ago
Let’s economise by cutting the pay of the NHS leaders
John,
bromley, United Kingdom,
5 hours ago
30 years ago if you had a heart attack or stroke you were tucked up in bed and given some aspirin. Now we have the elderly on intensive care and the demented on expensive life prolonging drugs. Try and reduce the ever expanding amount of medical care expended on each person during their life time and people would complain. You can’t have an exponentially expanding service without paying more. Better through taxation than charges imho
Steven,
Hartlepool, United Kingdom,
5 hours ago
I bet they have no problem with giving pen pushers behind a desk higher salaries.
George Oxfordshire,
Oxford, United Kingdom,
6 hours ago
Scrap HS2 now.
mrmojorisingirl,
London, United Kingdom,
6 hours ago
For starters stop all unnecessary procedures like breast implants and gastric bands. If people want them, then pay for it. Stop those swanning over from the EU getting free treatment. Maybe if they live here and pay taxes for five to ten years, then they qualify, but not till then. And charge people for prescriptions for medicines they can avoid having to have if they lived a better lifestyle. And make Scotland and Wales pay for prescriptions too…why shouldn’t they pay?
Wedding_Horses,
London, United Kingdom,
3 hours ago
Dr Richard Ames,
Cambridge MA, United States,
6 hours ago
The main reason that the NHS is in such a state is that it is massively overburdened with non clinical managers and administrators. There are far too many of them, too many ‘layers’ and 90% of them are unnecessary. No one in the NHS has the brains to look back to when hospitals were run by a Matron and her nursing staff. If you review the percentage of nursing staff to administrators in the early 1950s it is clear that the system worked well and was cost efficient. Hinchingbrooke hospital in Huntingdon UK was recently featured in the DM. The answer was in the statement “A key to the transformation was loosening the grip of managers and accountants.â€
When these many layers of ‘management and accountants’ are stripped away and money is spent where it should on clinicians, the deficit will be a bad memory. If the management of Hinchingbrooke can do it, others can – but they won’t I guess – not enough imagination and determination.
Mike,
Malta,
6 hours ago
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