NHS chief's warning over pay rise costs

NHS leaders have warned they face "impossible choices" over whether to cut patient care or reduce investment in diagnostic capacity.

The NHS Confederation says a series of unexpected costpressures,includingthe new pay rise for staff, has left the service facing a real terms cut in funding.

The Government's pay decision, it said, was worth around five per cent – but only three per cent had been budgeted for and the NHS will have to absorb an estimated £1.8bn in unplanned costs.

This comes on top of high energycostsandtheongoing impact of Covid.

The body which representsorganisationsthatcommissionandprovideNational Health Service services, said its analysis suggested extra costsmeanthehealthservice isthisyearfacingareal-terms cut in funding of between £4bn and £9.4bn.

Confederation chairman Matthew Taylor, said: "We have been calling for the GovernmenttohelpNHSand socialcarestaffwiththecostof-living crisis by increasing their pay, but did not expect that these extra costs would have to come from current health budgets.

"Put simply, this wasn't budgeted for and will have consequences for patient care. "The real terms cut this year is at least £4bn, leaving local leaders having tocutbackpatientcareoraccept that waiting times will continue to lengthen.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "These claims are misleading. The additional cost of accepting the pay review bodies' recommendations in full is £1.4bn – just 0.8% of the department's resource budget for this year.”