NHS pay rises have already swallowed much of the £25 billion cash injection at last autumn’s Budget, the head of the NHS in England has admitted.
In October, Rachel Reeves confirmed the spending boost across the next two years, taking the Department of Health and Social Care budget above £200 billion for the first time.
However, on Thursday, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, said that “a lot” of the cash had already been earmarked for pay awards.
About 1.3 million NHS staff, including nurses, received a pay rise of 5.5 per cent last July, more than double the UK rate of inflation for the same month of 2.2 per cent.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, it was put to Ms Pritchard that “huge amounts” were being spent on the NHS and that it is “absorbing ever more money”.
“A lot of that has gone on pay, spending it on pay awards and dealing with inflation.
“There are other costs that have hit the NHS, particularly we see growth in demand every year of about 3.3 per cent, I’ve just said it was 7 per cent for A&E but across the board, it was about 3.3 per cent.
No surprise, because we’ve got an older, sicker population.”
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