Cancer screening

Of all the demands for higher pay amid soaring inflation, that of NHS staff seems likely to be viewed most sympathetically by the public. However, as this newspaper reveals today, the health service’s decision to respond with generosity will come at the cost of patients and, in particular, cancer testing.

The service has only received additional funding from the Treasury for pay rises of 3 per cent, yet some staff will get as much as 9 per cent. The difference will come from funding that would otherwise have paid for new technology and diagnostic equipment, says the NHS.

Writing on these pages, Prof Sir Mike Richards, the country’s top cancer screening expert, warns that the diversion of funds will make much worse a service already strained by decades of under-funding. Ministers are keen to point out backlogs caused by the pandemic, yet the NHS has received billions of pounds in recovery funding, paid for in part by tax rises, while the number of diagnostic tests being carried out each month is little changed from before the first lockdown. This pay rise gets to the nub of the issue.

For decades, under governments of the Left and Right, NHS funding has increased while the public has been told that administration costs would stay flat or fall. Instead, they have risen in lockstep with each other, while services seem to have gone backwards.

The NHS faces a staffing crisis that surely cannot be resolved without paying competitive salaries or investing in technology. Likewise, state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment comes at a cost. As our population ages, the strains on the health service will only get worse. The need for a profound rethink is urgent.