WIREDGOV

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare system, responded to the speech by NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens in Birmingham yesterday

"The Chancellor cannot say he has not been warned. Simon Stevens’ call for more money follows our letter, in which we brought together organisations representing the entire NHS and social care system in England as well as the medical royal colleges and the leading voluntary organisations representing patients and carers.

“Now this chorus includes not just those running the system but also the Government's own arms-length bodies, its own regulator and those delivering and receiving care.

“Given the precarious state of the service the NHS Confederation’s view is that £4 billion a year will be required just to sustain the NHS in England for each of the next two years, a view that has now been endorsed by the leading think tanks.

“We recognise the difficult decisions the Chancellor has to make but we are also clear that the cost of any pay award must be met on top of this and that anything the health service receives should be matched by equivalent levels of increase for adult social care.

"The Government is understandably distracted by Brexit, but if the Chancellor fails to address the points contained in our recent letter, there will be a political price, on top of the price already being paid by those who rely on these services."