Tax rises necessary to help fund NHS budget hike

Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated how the government intends to pay for the recently announced injection of approximately £394 million per week into the NHS to increase its budget by £20.5 billion per year by 2023/24. Some of the money will be diverted from the annual EU membership subscription that will no longer be paid post Brexit.
Mrs May said: “Taxpayers will have to contribute a bit more in a fair and balanced way to support the NHS we all use,” and confirmed that a ten-year plan will be put in place to guarantee every penny of the funding injection is well spent: “It must be a plan that tackles wastes, reduces bureaucracy, and eliminates unacceptable variation, with all these efficiency savings reinvested back into patient care. It must be a plan that makes better use of capital investment to modernise its buildings and invest in technology to drive productivity improvements. It must be a plan that enjoys the support of NHS staff across the country – not something dreamt up in Whitehall and centrally imposed”. She said the plan would “fundamentally reset the deal between the NHS and its staff,” to offer “greater flexibility over where they work, when they work and what they can do”.
NHS Confederation Niall Dickson said: “The Prime Minister has thrown down the gauntlet and made clear that the NHS and its staff can now help to shape its future. That is hugely welcome. The new money represents a major investment guaranteed over a five year period and quite rightly government and society will expect the NHS to deliver. But we must set realistic goals and make clear that there will be hard choices ahead. The danger is that we overpromise and under deliver.”