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Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
UK News

Church of England warns future of NHS at risk

The institution's lead bishop on health and social care, Bishop of Carlisle Rt Rev James Newcome suggested the NHS won't last until 2030 unless a raft of changes are made.

Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Bishop James said: "Health remains on the political agenda and successive governments have, not surprisingly, been thinking about the next election and doing things that are going to be electorally popular.

"So, [they] haven't necessarily been thinking ten, 15 years ahead.

Bishop James is one of 14 peers who have sat on the House of Lords Committee on the Long-term Sustainability of the NHS during the last year.

"There's a strong feeling that - with the population getting older, with more people having what are known now as a multiple morbidities (that's lots of illnesses) - we really do need to be tackling the issue of what the NHS is going to look like and how it's going to be run in the long-term, if it's going to survive."

After hearing evidence from 800, the committee has made 32 recommendations which include raising health service funding at least in-line with GDP between 2020 and 2030.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are totally committed to an NHS, free at the point of use, providing world-class care - and we agree that means taking decisions to ensure the sustainability of the service in future.

"That's why we are already expanding the number of medical training places by 25% to ensure we have all the doctors we need, investing in social care and working on a long-term funding solution in a green paper, and putting £325 million into local transformation plans to improve services, with more to follow in the autumn."

The committee is proposes a new, independent Office for Health and Care Sustainability to help safeguard health care for the next 15-20 years.

It also suggests that ministers consider introducing an insurance-based scheme (similar to the UK workplace pension scheme) where employees - and their employer - contribute to their future care costs.

An NHS England spokesman said: "The Lords committee makes a number of important long-term recommendations well worth proper debate and consideration."

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