SIR - The revelation from three leading health think tanks that the NHS is facing the “hardest 10 years in its history” is not surprising but it is still worrying.
Government spending pledges amount to the lowest 10-year growth rate the health service has ever seen.
Experts from the King’s Fund, the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation have all given their dismal verdicts ahead of the Government’s autumn spending review.
Along with minimal growth in health spending over the past five years, the forthcoming decade will see the lowest real term growth since the NHS was founded in 1948.
The Government has committed to increase spending by £8 billion, annually by 2020 but this only amounts to a 1.3 per cent real terms annual increase.
Yet pressures on the health service, driven by a growing and ageing population, are rising by an estimated four per cent each year.
David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article