Boris Johnson’s NHS cash pledge has been slammed as a ‘drop in the ocean’.
The Prime Minister’s £1.8 billion cash pledge is just a fraction of the amount the Tories have siphoned out of NHS repair funds in the last five years.
The Mirror revealed yesterday that more than £4 billion has been raided from the health service’s captial budgets – which pays for repairs and equipment – to fund day-to-day expenses such as staff wages.
And it will cost more than £6 billion to deal with the backlog of repairs that have stacked up as the maintenance fund has been raided.
Some 76 hospital trusts reported incidents due to building failures in the last year, including sewage and water leaking onto hospital wards, broken lifts and ceilings collapsing.
One hospital trust reported faeces seeping through the floor in an ultrasound corridor.
Another recounted a horrific scene where staff tried to clear a blocked drain, which led to dirt, faeces and slime spurting up through the sink and landing on a patient’s bed.
A string of hospitals reported broken down lifts, which led to patients and staff being trapped inside, cancellations of appointments and patients unable to be transported for urgent care.
Labour ’s shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth said: “This announcement – even if it’s ever delivered – falls significantly short of what’s needed to provide the quality, safe care to patients after years of Tory cuts.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
“Tory ministers have repeatedly cut capital investment budgets in recent years. These smash and grab raids have meant over £4 billion slashed and seen the NHS repair bill spiral to £6 billion putting patient safety seriously at risk.
“What’s more, Matt Hancock has hopelessly failed to deliver on existing Tory promises, delivering less than 3 per cent of cash supposedly earmarked for upgrades. This record of incompetence and cuts confirms what even Johnson’s advisers admit – Tory MPs simply don’t care about the NHS.”
Ben Gershlick, Senior Economist at the Health Foundation, said: “The government’s expected announcement of a £1.8bn short-term funding boost for upgrades to 20 hospitals and NHS capital infrastructure projects is welcome.
“But while the Prime Minister might be looking forward to cutting the ribbon at a new hospital ward, years of underinvestment in the NHS’s infrastructure means this extra money risks being little more than a drop in the ocean.
“Many hospitals, GP surgeries, and community and mental health facilities across England are in major disrepair with the maintenance backlog in trusts alone now totalling over £6bn.”
He added: “What the NHS needs is a comprehensive, long-term funding settlement for capital that is driven by the needs of patients and staff.”
And Lib Dem health spokesperson Judith Jolly said: “When a no-deal Brexit hits government finances by an eye watering £90bn, Boris Johnson’s pledge will not be worth the paper it’s written on.
“The Conservatives have under-funded social care to the point of crisis, they have failed to address a critical staffing shortage while children’s mental health services are almost non-existent.
“The NHS is too important to people’s lives to be neglected. The Liberal Democrats are committed to transformational front line funding by stopping Brexit and investing a penny on income tax into the NHS.”
