Lib Dems call on all parties to match NHS spending
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- Published: Monday, 26 January 2015 07:47
- Written by News Editor
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Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb has called on the Conservatives and Labour to match his commitment to invest an extra £8bn a year in the NHS by 2020. He has written to Jeremy Hunt and Andy Burnham calling on them to commit to meet the financial needs of the NHS as set out by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England in his Five Year Forward View.
To achieve this boost in funding by 2020/21, Liberal Democrats say they will do three things:
· They will baseline into the budget of the NHS, the additional £2bn that Liberal Democrats secured in the Autumn Statement for 2015/16.
· In addition to this funding they will invest a further £1bn in real terms in 2016/17, as set out at their Autumn Conference. This will be paid for by capping pensions tax relief for the richest pensioners (saving 500m), aligning divend tax with income tax for those earning more than £150,000 (saving £400m) and scrapping the Conservative shares for rights scheme (saving £100m).
· After 2017/18, they say they will increase health spending in line with growth in the economy.
· As well as increasing NHS funding, the Liberal Democrats say they will also commission a non-partisan fundamental review of NHS and social care finances in 2015 before the next spending review, in order to assess the pressures on NHS budgets.
They will focus extra funding on two key priorities that will help reduce cost pressures in other areas to help NHS funding remain sustainable. These priorities are:
· Mental health. They want to end the discrimination against mental health and have pledged £500m extra a year to support this from 2015/16 onwards.
· Prevention. Keeping people healthier for longer and supporting people to stay as healthy as possible and to receive care closer to home.
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