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NHS productivity must improve in return for more cash – Streeting

NHS productivity must improve in return for more cash – Streeting

However, doubts have been raised about how far the new money will go.

Saffron Cordery, from NHS Providers, which represents NHS managers, said the extra money was “incredibly welcome”.

But she added that the rising costs of new drugs and the need to cover pay rises, which include a 22 per cent increase for junior doctors over two years, would take some time.

“Things are really taken as they come in. The envelope that remains for genuine reform and transformation is smaller than that £25 billion shows.”

However, Streeting confirmed that the NHS will be reimbursed for the cost of additional employer National Insurance (NI) contributions – the amount they pay rises by 1.2% from April.

But he would not commit to doing the same for non-NHS organizations providing care – this could include GPs and social care providers.

He said: “I’m going at it now – and I’ll have more to say in the coming weeks.”

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, which represents social care providers, said the sector had been “left out in the cold”.

He predicted that the prices charged by providers would have to rise to afford the rise in NI, which councils would struggle to pay, and therefore older people and young adults with disabilities could end up losing out.