Following on from 14 years of obsessive Osbornism, real-terms budget cuts, and pandemic pressures from which it is yet to really recover, the NHS has become, as Health Secretary Wes Streeting put it: “broken”. Lord Darzi’s review of the state of the NHS published this September also declared British public healthcare to be in “critical condition”. With an ever-increasing waiting list and underfunded social care system, some parties, such as Reform UK, felt bold enough to suggest a level of quasi-privatisation in the July election. Labour’s budget, however, clearly cements that the NHS will remain ours, and it will be fixed. Although Starmer’s government will face struggles, the measures announced for the NHS are bold, practical, and vital to getting our Health Service back into working condition.
Labour’s October budget pledged an additional £22.6bn for our NHS, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves highlighted as the largest real-terms increase in funding (excluding the pandemic period) since 2010, and falls under the biggest increase in overall public spending in a single budget in 22 years. After years of austerity, such investment is not just welcome – it is utterly essential.
After years of austerity, such investment is not just welcome – it is utterly essential.
However, this big budget spending has not come unopposed. Critics argue that the budget's funding boost may still not be enough to solve the problems at hand. Labour has pledged to hit guaranteed 18-week waiting times by 2029 (which should be the maximum wait based on NHS policy anyway, but this has been inconsistent since the pandemic). With waiting lists currently standing at 7.6m, 71% of trust leaders agree that it is unlikely the NHS can meet 18-week waiting times by the time Labour will have to call the next election.
Moreover, a number of organisations campaigning for better social care have criticised a lack of ringfenced funding for care services. The Health Foundation, despite lauding the government’s plan to increase local authority budgets by £1.3bn next year, stated that the £600m given to (adult and children’s) social care is “simply not enough”, given that social care takes up 70% of local authority budgets. Care England showed more fervent opposition to the budget’s reforms, highlighting that it draws £2.4bn out of social care funding through the 1.2% rise in Employer National Insurance contributions.
However, we must not forget that we are only seeing this government's first steps. There’s no denying the scale of the challenge Labour faces – and the urgency and breadth of problems facing health services will (understandably) warrant constant calls on the government to go further, faster. The record-setting budget expenditure and other announced health measures, like the upcoming ban on tobacco for children born after 2008, won’t fix the NHS alone – but they are just the beginning of a 10-year plan for NHS renewal to be announced in Spring 2025. With continued investment and real determination, I have no doubt that the NHS can be revitalised to the extent it needs in years ahead, but we'll ultimately have to see what's announced next year.