How can the government really promise to clear the NHS backlog when it isn’t investing in the necessary staff to carry out the treatments? That’s the question many in the health service are asking after this week’s Spending Review. Sure, the Chancellor announced a £5.9 billion commitment on capital spending, which will increase bed capacity, set up more diagnostic centres and improve technology and data systems, but these don’t make sense unless you have the people working in them.
The government had led the health world to believe that it would offer some kind of financial clarity on workforce in the Spending Review. In its response to this petition on cancer care on 19 October, it said:
This is not the Treasury line, which is that the government has basically fixed the NHS backlog in terms of funding and now the health service needs to get on with it
‘Allocations and profiles will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review, which will set out the Government’s spending plans for health and social care for future years, including the NHS Workforce.
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