COVID-19: NHS spend after the pandemic
08 April 2020
Christopher Newdick, professor of health law at the University of Reading, said:
"Once we are through the COVID-19 crisis it may well be likely that the Prime Minister, especially after his own stay in hospital, and the Health Secretary insist that the Chancellor shows appreciation to the NHS and its staff by an uplift in long-term funding and improved salary scales for nurses and support staff. We are currently 8,000 doctors and over 40,000 nurses short of capacity. And over 100,000 short of community care workers. That hurts in a crisis like this.
"Public health, which aims to prevent illness in the first place, currently only gets 4% of the NHS budget. That looks woefully inadequate right now. Perhaps we will see more investment in community health care but it implies higher taxes, especially for the wealthy.
"This is unfamiliar ground in policy terms and will test "New Conservatives" and their resolve to bring back society."