NHS needs emergency injection of £1bn, says King’s Fund

The NHS in England needs an emergency injection of money to the tune of around £1bn (€1.4bn; $1.5bn) this year to cope with the huge deficits facing the service, a leading healthcare think tank has warned.

In its submission to the government’s upcoming spending review,1 the King’s Fund said that even the best run NHS hospitals were now forecasting a deficit and that “emergency deficit funding is likely to be required this year.”

The think tank added that the £8bn increase in real terms NHS funding by 2020 pledged by the government was “the absolute minimum requirement” to maintain current standards of care and would not be enough to pay for new commitments such as seven day services. It added that, contrary to some rumours that this £8bn …