Brexit
Rob Whiteman has written a number of articles on the implications of Brexit for public services, including health and social care. Links to the latest and most relevant ones are below.
Brexit: Rob Whiteman's Thoughts
Taking Stock of the EU Referendum Verdict
More Medicine Needed
On 22 May CIPFA released a report claiming that the government’s Five Year Forward View for the NHS, published in 2014, is already outdated.
Download 'More Medicine Needed: the Health of Health Finances Revisited' (PDF, 675 KB)
More Medicine Needed featured in our June Health Newsletter. It cautions that new charges or healthcare rationing will have to be introduced unless taxes are raised to meet a predicted annual £10bn shortfall. CIPFA has called for an independent commission to establish a ‘golden ratio’ of GDP spend on healthcare.
The story was taken up widely in the press, featuring in 240 publications, notably the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror, Sky News and the Daily Express. All led with the predicted £10bn scale of the problem and several went on to report on the proposal to set a ‘golden ratio’.
Health finances then featured heavily in the referendum debate and subsequent developments: before the vote some claimed that NHS funding could be increased by diverting funds previously bound for the EU; after the decision the consensus seems to be that no additional funding is likely, and indeed that the impact of Brexit on the economy might actually reduce the Government’s ability to tackle any shortfalls in the health budget. That would make the findings of ‘More Medicine Needed’ all the more relevant, and the need to fix a coherent long term course more urgent.
Read the Guardian coverage on More Medicine Needed.