Why the government's NHS funding pledge falls far short of what’s needed

After more than a decade of chronic underinvestment, our NHS has been left in a deeply precarious position. It’s good that the government has recognised this, but the proposed funding boost will not be enough to fix the major problems facing our health service. 

We need at least an extra £33bn a year to bring the NHS up to the same level of investment seen in France and Germany in order to match or surpass their numbers of health workers, beds and scanners. The government’s new policy is only offering £6bn a year.

This policy is also not enough to solve the crisis of social care. One of the major problems is that it’s a highly under-regulated sector where millions of pounds goes to for-profit providers, whilst our care workers are underpaid and undervalued.

We also know that these changes will ultimately channel more money into private healthcare companies that are increasingly being relied upon to clear the NHS backlog, rather than the government providing sustained investment in NHS facilities and staff.

On top of all this, the government intends to fund this plan through further regressive taxation on working families, rather than through taxing the wealth of the super rich who have made astronomical profits throughout this pandemic. 

And this is all happening at the same time that the government is forcing through a deeply unpopular #NHSCorporateTakeover Bill which will give private healthcare companies a direct seat at the table when decisions are made about NHS spending and patient care.

NHS patients and staff don’t want more corporate control in our NHS, and we don’t want private companies profiting from our care. What we need is drastically increased funding, proper support for staff and an end to privatisation. That’s what the #NHSNewDeal calls for - join us in demanding it!