‘Double running’ of prevention and healthcare services cannot be avoided (HSJ, 14 April 2025)

Summary

The government should use the comprehensive spending review to allocate dedicated funding to support prevention and address health inequalities, writes Saffron Cordery in this HSJ article.

Severely stretched public finances in a turbulent world means the government is looking harder than ever at how it can raise, spend and, above all, save money. This imperative has clearly shaped its welfare proposals and the spring statement, and is now looming over the forthcoming comprehensive spending review.

Inevitably, health, as the biggest spending public service, is feeling the squeeze, as reflected by the decision to abolish NHS England and cut back integrated care board costs, while trusts search for unprecedented efficiency savings.

Against this background, the financial case for investment in prevention – helping people to stay well and catching disease early – is becoming ever more urgent and compelling. It offers huge potential benefits for individual wellbeing, for society as a whole, and for the NHS at a time when improvements in life expectancy have slowed and inequalities are widening.