NHS Confederation responds to NHS England’s latest Board meeting

Responding to NHS England's latest board meeting, Matthew Taylor chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“This is a sobering warning from NHS England. A financial hit of this magnitude will undoubtedly have a very real and hard impact on frontline patient care and needs to be urgently addressed.

“Patients will understandably be worried about what this will mean for their care and treatment, as are health leaders at a time when waiting lists are growing and there are 132,000 vacancies.

“This is why we have called for a ban on any further national targets unless the resource has been identified for the NHS to deliver it. We need realism and honesty from political leaders, rather than false promises that bear little resemblance on reality.

“The NHS will do everything it can to become even more efficient but we can’t see its capital budgets raided as the way of resolving this problem when its outdated estates and infrastructure are already affecting the care they can provide for patients.”