Finance

Making the case for greater financial autonomy for members and systems.
Pound coins

The NHS faces an unprecedented challenge following a decade of austerity and the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move to integrated care also presents a significant change in the way the healthcare system is planned and funded. 

Our members need a new funding settlement to meet the elective backlog created by the pandemic and to achieve the goals of the NHS Long Term Plan. Central to this will be sufficient funding to meet service demand and plan for long-term capital upgrades. Currently, limits on capital expenditure limit members' ability to develop the capacity they need to plan long term.

Integrated care provides a rare opportunity to rethink how funding flows through the health and care system. It is essential that funding flows are designed so that systems meet their potential to improve overall population health. 

  • Our finance policy programme focuses on contributing to the development of the NHS’s new system financial architecture, working with leaders in ICSs and across the system. We meet regularly with government and system leaders to represent members and influence change.  

    We are supporting members and the wider NHS to make the transition from a decade of austerity and in the transition towards financial planning at system level. We are also continuing to make the case for greater financial autonomy for members and systems as we heads towards a new financial regime.

    We will also lead a coalition of health organisations in a major campaign – Health for Care – to secure reform and a long-term funding settlement for social care. This is the right thing to do but also essential if the NHS is to achieve the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan.

    We are also keen to support more acute and community trust members to engage with local, non-NHS partners to develop local growth opportunities. This will include a new project exploring the role of NHS teaching hospitals as ‘anchor institutions’.