The report published by NHS England last year stated that by 2020, the NHS in England would require at extra £30 billion over and above the normal increases due to inflation. The driving fact in the costs is that we are living longer and the by 2020 all the generation born in the baby boom after the second world war will be between 70 and 75 years old. NHS England believe that there are more efficient ways of working and that of the £30 billion extra required they can make up £22 billion through efficiency savings. However even with that there will still be as estimated £8 billion shortfall. That is the £8 billion figure that all the parties are currently talking about. Liberal Democrats have said we will fund our the £8bn NHS commitment:
Along with the the basics of making the efficency savings and providing the cash the NHS also needs to work smarter that is why the Liberal Democrats will help drive a digital revolution in the NHS by funding new technology in a bid to create a paperless NHS.
Liberal Democrats will set aside £250m from the profits of the sale of redundant NHS assets to fund new technologies in the health service. This one-off “Transformation Fund” will help fund the changes NHS boss Simon Stevens has said will be needed in the next Parliament. The money will be used to make more doctor appointments and repeat prescriptions available online. It will also be used to improve GP access by encouraging more patients to contact their doctors using standard internet services like Skype.
This call for new technology, along with £8bn in extra funding, are the key requests in Simon Stevens’ report into the future of the NHS. Only the Liberal Democrats have committed to this funding and are committed to introducing the new technology the health service needs.
I hope this clarifies the £8 billion figure and how we plan to fund it.