Responding to today’s government announcement on the funding of health and social care, MiP chief executive Jon Restell said:

“NHS managers will give a cautious welcome to today’s funding announcement. The decision to use national insurance rather than more progressive forms of taxation will be questioned, but the proposal represents a large amount of extra money for the health and care system.

“Managers are asking the government to manage public expectations. This extra money is absolutely needed to tackle waiting times. But even with it, waiting times will take years to come down. Staffing shortages, capacity and wellbeing are huge limiting factors – and fixing them will take time, too.

“The government has taken the plunge on funding social care. But will the money earmarked for social care be enough for decent pay rates to attract people to work in care? We also need a blueprint for social care reform so we can make this extra money count. It’s not enough on its own.”

^{Photo: Georg Arthur Pflueger/Unsplash}