NHS (Five Year Forward View)

Nicholas Brown Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

It absolutely does. My right hon. Friend makes his point very powerfully. This year, the better care fund—a programme derided by the Labour party, which said that it would not work—has been a huge success, with a £5 billion integration of the health and social care systems. The enthusiasm that that unleashed encouraged me to propose today that we should go further, so that where both parties are willing, local authorities and the local NHS should consider jointly commissioning public health as well. There would be huge benefits if they chose to do that.

[Mr Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East) (Lab)]

Is it still the Government’s case that the emerging deficits across the English hospital trusts can be dealt with by efficiency savings alone?

[Mr Hunt]

There are huge pressures in the NHS. By the time of the election, we will have nearly 1 million more over-65s than there were at the last election. That means that people have to redouble their efforts to live within their means. At the same time people are trying to deliver the higher standards of care that we have talked about following the Francis review of what happened in Mid Staffs. It is challenging, but we expect all trusts to live within their budget. In all cases, they have recovery plans that we expect them to stick to.