NHS budgets may be cut to fund increase in defence spending, warns King's Fund

According to the BBC,¹ The Prime Minister said that some road and energy projects would not "go ahead as planned" to help raise defence funding to £80bn a year by 2029.

However, there have also been suggestions^2.3 that the spending will draw from NHS capital budgets. The Sunday Times recently reported that the Department of Health and Social Care will have its capital budget cut by 1% along with other depts - circa £580m from health alone to pay for the defence investment plan.

Siva Anandaciva, Director of Policy, Events and Partnerships at The King’s Fund, said: "While many people understand the need to increase defence spending, cutting the NHS capital budget, which helps maintain NHS buildings and equipment, including MRI and CT scanners, will have a knock-on effect on patient care.

"There are already serious doubts about whether the New Hospital Programme can be delivered, after it was paused, reviewed and republished with a revised timetable. The Department of Health and Social Care has said RAAC-affected hospitals and wave one projects will not be affected, but if later waves of the hospital building programme were delayed it would leave more taxpayer funding tied up in maintaining substandard hospital buildings for longer. It’s a false economy.

"This could be a serious level of disinvestment and is particularly worrying when more NHS buildings are falling into a state of disrepair, equipment that is already passed its sell-by date will have to be stretched further, the repairs bill is soaring, and more patients and staff are experiencing safety incidents in aging NHS buildings.

"There are also serious questions about where the remaining £4.7 billion needed to reach the planned £15 billion will come from and whether this signals less investment in health and care in years ahead."

Further reading: 

1. Starmer trims investment budgets to fund extra £15bn for defence)

2. Henry Anderson on X: "The government has confirmed its defence spending plan will be funded by 1% cuts to departments' capital budgets - including health. This will be found through "efficiencies [and] cancelling or delaying lower priority programmes" - starting this year https://t.co/hbOXg455YJ" / X

3. Shaun Lintern on X: "As reported by The Sunday Times a few weeks ago, the DHSC and thus the NHS will have its capital budget cut by 1% along with other depts - circa £580m from health alone to pay for the defence investment plan: https://t.co/lxdWPl5mtm" / X