IHPN responds to Chancellor's Autumn Budget

Responding to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said:

“With the NHS continuing to face huge pressures and waiting lists still at record highs, it’s welcome to see the Chancellor committing to an above-inflation increase in the health budget to put the service on more secure footing, along with a continued commitment to enhancing patient choice.

“However, with this significant injection of funding announced today, the public will be expecting to see significant improvement in the quality and accessibility of NHS services and will want assurances that the funding will fully deliver on the Government’s commitment to get the NHS meeting its performance targets once again by the end of this Parliament. Milestone commitments to chart a course to achieving these targets are now urgently needed to help the public understand when improvements will be seen and felt.

“In these difficult economic times, the independent sector is committed to playing its part in ensuring NHS patients get the care they need – including the potential to invest over £1bn of new capital into the NHS in the short term alone to develop new diagnostic and surgical and community health facilities, supporting better access to NHS services for patients, free at the point of use.”