While it is positive that healthcare services have been prioritised in the Spending Review, the MDU emphasises that reform is still urgently needed to ensure this extra funding is spent effectively and has a direct impact on patient care.

To illustrate, the MDU highlights that in 2023/24, the NHS in England spent over £2.8 billion on clinical negligence claims. For perspective, this is more than was spent on subsidies to farmers (£2.4 billion), on the combined cost of food and cleaning in hospitals (£2.3 billion) and the winter fuel payment (£2 billion). The cost of these claims is also forecast to rise significantly - potentially to over £4 billion per annum by the end of the decade.

Additionally, it is imperative that the government prioritises the health and wellbeing of NHS professionals. Indeed, a survey of doctors by the MDU found that improving workplace facilities, such as access to hot food out of hours and to staff rest rooms, were among the most important issues that they wanted parliament to address.

Tom Reynolds, Director of Policy and Communications at the MDU, said:

"The MDU welcomes the announcement today that the NHS will receive an extra 3% of funding from the government. It is our hope that these funds are used wisely and are directed towards frontline NHS services.

"The MDU is acutely aware of the strains on the NHS' finances and have long campaigned for reform of the law surrounding clinical negligence costs. This could free up hundreds of millions of pounds every year to be spent on recruiting staff, improving staff working conditions, patient care and tackling waiting lists.

"This is an opportunity for the government to be bold and embrace reforms that would allow for the most effective use of this additional budget."

MDU welcomes increased NHS spending in government's 2025 Spending Review

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