Dear Editor,

Our NHS needs 20% more funding by 2020 – The NHS needs a significant cash injection now to reverse the decline in care.

The NHS is struggling, it is under extreme pressure. As demand continues to rise, it has endured years of underfunding. The consequence is clear to those who use the NHS, and who work within it. Last month, an Institute for Fiscal Studies report concluded the NHS requires 3.3 per cent growth for each of the next 15 years just to stay where we are, let alone manage the ever-increasing demands of an ageing population, costly cancer drugs and innovation.

Even 3.3 per cent is too little. Without an immediate and much greater financial injection, the NHS will continue to deteriorate. Our health service will become less safe.

Safety is of the highest concern of any health system but the deterioration has already begun. Though the dedication of its staff has long compensated for NHS underfunding, those staff are now facing unacceptable pressure, sometimes paying personally for the inadequacy of the system within which they work.

The result? The NHS is short of 100,000 staff, including doctors and nurses in the most critical posts. GPs are leaving the profession, patients are facing unacceptable waits for appointments. Some are seen only in emergencies. This is a dangerous situation. It risks our nation’s health in the short and long term. It creates unsustainable pressure upon hospitals. Long term prevention and Health Creation has been sacrificed to sustain acute care.

The bond of trust between patients and the government is broken. The government likes to pretend the NHS can continue to provide safe, comprehensive and timely care. As matters stand, it cannot. Patients and NHS staff are paying the price.

The NHS needs an immediate and significant cash injection, 20% by 2020, to halt the decline, to reverse the deterioration of recent years. It needs a long term plan, to give staff the confidence to invest their careers in the NHS, and, most vitally, to provide to the public a safe and caring service when they and their families need it.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Colin Philip MRCGP

Dr Robert Marshall FRCPath

Dr Mark Russell MRCGP

Jill George RN

Carol Carne RN

Jenifer Paling RN

Dr Neil Walden MB BS 

Dr Dan Rainbow MRCGP

Dr Rupert Morrall MRCGP

Dr Stewart Rutherfurd MB ChB

Dr Hasnain Dalal FRCGP

Lesley Cass MCSP Grad Dip Phys

Dr David Levine MD FRCP

Dr Robert Taylor MRCP FRCEM

Kandy Collings RN 

Dr Sam Freegard FRCGP 

Dr Margaret May MBBS

Dr Hugh Savage MRCGP

Dr Jane Bernal MB Ch B

Dr Jurg Ehmann MB BChr BA MRCP