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The King’s Fund responds to the government announcement of new NHS funding and changes to NHS pensions

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Commenting on the government announcement of new funding for the NHS and changes to NHS pensions, Richard Murray, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said:

‘A prolonged period of underfunding has increasingly left some patients at risk as staff struggle to cope with faulty equipment in buildings that are in some cases literally falling apart around them.

‘A significant amount of work is needed to bring NHS buildings and equipment up to scratch after years of capital budgets being raided to cover day-to-day running costs. The new funding announced today is a welcome first step, but a longer-term investment programme is needed to tackle the £6 billion NHS maintenance backlog, upgrade GP surgeries that are no longer fit for purpose, and modernise the NHS so it can take advantage of new technology.

‘As well as shoring up buildings, urgent action is needed to shore up the NHS workforce. Severe staff shortages are the biggest challenge facing the health service, with nearly 100,000 vacancies in NHS trusts. In addition to pensions reform, solving the workforce crisis will require a raft of measures, including financial incentives to attract more nurses, and ramped-up international recruitment to plug rota gaps today.’

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