Responding to NHS Improvement’s end-of-year financial figures for NHS trusts, Simon Bottery, Director of Policy at Independent Age, the older people’s charity, said:
“This situation is clearly unsustainable and demonstrates that the efficiency targets in the NHS Five Year Forward View are unlikely to be achieved. More money is going to be needed in the short term, but also in the longer term as an ageing population creates increasing demand for health and care. Piecemeal solutions don’t work. We urge the Prime Minister to establish a commission to review the future funding of health and social care without delay.”