Tories nab £2bn from NHS
Thursday 21 March 2013
Printable
EmailChancellor George Osborne was accused today of trying to "claw back" more than £2 billion from the NHS in a desperate bid to make his Budget sums add up.
Labour said Budget figures appeared to show that the coalition underspent £2.2bn on health - but the money won't be carried over.
The Department of Health insisted the money would still be available to NHS organisations.
But shadow health secretary Andy Burnham accused ministers of mounting a "raid" on the health budget, despite claiming that they wished to protect the NHS.
Foundation Trust Network chief executive Chris Hopson said: "The government can't have its cake and eat it.
"The present situation - where it looks like the government is deliberately engineering a growing, backdoor underspend - is untenable."
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