NHS APA statement on the Spring Budget
- NHS Addictions Provider Alliance
- Apr 3
- 1 min read
The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented her Spring Budget to Parliament on Wednesday 26th March.
The APA responded:
While we await the outcome of the Spending Review in the summer, it is clear that the current direction of travel taken by the government with respect to benefits reform will have consequences for our health and social care system and for people who experience addiction. The cuts to welfare will fall most heavily on the poorest people in society, and we know that the harms caused by drug and alcohol use or gambling are concentrated in the most deprived areas of the country.
Taken together with the government’s recent announcement to abolish NHS England and make swingeing cuts to the civil service and other ICBs, we are at a critical juncture in the treatment and recovery system’s efforts to build on the progress made in recent years in improving our response to drug, alcohol or gambling harms. The NHS APA will continue in its efforts to ensure our system is fit-for-purpose in terms of the skills and expertise of our workforce, financially sustainable, and rooted in the both the evidence-base of what works and the lived experiences of people who experience addiction.
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