The extra money announced by the chancellor in the Budget for the NHS in England has met with a lukewarm response among leading figures in the health sector.
Philip Hammond announced an immediate £350m boost for this winter followed by £1.6bn more next year for the front line above the rise already planned.
Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and Economics at the Health Foundation, said: "The level and speed of extra funding announced by the Chancellor has exceeded expectations. The NHS was staring over a precipice - this is an important step away from the edge. The much needed £350m of immediate spending will go some way to help the NHS to meet emergency pressures this winter.
"However, even with the announced investment, the NHS will be under considerable pressure. The extra capital and day to day funding amounts to around half of the £4 billion of spending pressures facing the service next year. The NHS is outperforming the wider economy in productivity improvements, but will still face big challenges, not least a waiting list of four million people."
Dr Liam Brennan, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists said:
"The additional funding announced in the Budget is clearly to be welcomed, but continues a pattern of providing just enough to treat the symptoms, but not enough to address the long-term problem of rising demand for the NHS.
"We need to consider how future funding decisions are made, and reiterate our call for the establishment of an independent Office for Health and Care Sustainability that would make non-partisan judgements on where investment is needed."
Gill Walton, General Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "The Chancellor has given more money to the NHS but not enough to cope with demand. We would hope to see more money in the future so that our maternity services and the NHS have the investment needed."
Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:
"The Chancellor has committed to a sizeable extra funding boost of around £2bn to the NHS next year. This was the right decision and will bring respite for patients and NHS staff alike. For now at least, we have dodged the bullet.
"But as we and two other leading think tanks calculated, the figure really needed next year to get the NHS on a permanently stable footing would have been at least £4bn. Today’s pledges fill about half of this. The new money levels off fast: the year after next, the NHS will again face limited additional funding, and we may find ourselves staring down the barrel once again."
Janet Davies, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, responding to comments in the Budget on nurses and their pay, said: "The Chancellor has clearly listened to the tens of thousands of nursing staff who’ve been campaigning for fair pay, and he was right to address their concerns.
"Promising the NHS additional money for nursing pay is welcome but Philip Hammond must make it a meaningful pay rise.
“The NHS has been running on the goodwill of its staff for too long, and with more talk of reform and productivity, Hammond runs the risk of insulting nurses who regularly stay at work unpaid after 12-hour shifts. Their goodwill will not last indefinitely."
