George Osborne’s redesign
The spending review due to be announced on November 25, is expected to make a shift towards health rather than education and economic development. George Osborne’s redesign of the British State will see overall cuts to the state budget, as the Conservatives’ decided when they took office in 2010.
However, the redesign will see 44% of the budget going towards spending on health and elderly people. This will be the highest proportion since the records began in the 1990s. You can read the full article from The Guardian.
Protecting elderly people
Since 2010, the Conservative government have decided to make some cut backs on spending, whilst concentrating spending increasingly on protecting elderly people (at pension age).
“In contrast, spending per capita on older people will rise by about 19% over the same period. By the end of this decade, spending on the state pension will account for more than half of all welfare spending.”
This is a clear indication that future plans will aim to reduce the current issues that elderly people face, such as; being discharged too early or receiving poor care.
This is often due to the NHS struggling to deal with the number of ‘bed blockers’ who don’t have a safe environment to go home to. Lack of funding also restricts how much care many healthcare professionals can give to elderly people.
NHS budget increased
There has been a long history of concern over the state of the NHS, and how our healthcare system will be able look after the elderly without suffering from heavy strain.
The government are planning to adjust the state spending to reflect our ageing population. By doing so they will hopefully enable to NHS to manage the rising demands that our ageing population brings.
“By contrast, the NHS budget will have risen by 14% over the same period and the international development budget increased by 40%.”
