NHS savings

MPs have today cast doubt on the government's insistence that dramatic efficiency savings in NHS spending are achievable.

The health select committee's report found that in order to fulfil the demand for year-on-year savings of four per cent would test service provision "to the limit".

The eligibility criteria for receiving social care may also have to be scaled back in order to fund the efficiencies demanded of them, according to the committee.

Health spending is ringfenced under the settlement in the spending review, but radical internal reorganisation of the NHS will mean existing services may come under strain.