BHF comment
BHF calls for urgent investment in research in the Comprehensive Spending Review
The Government has a critical opportunity in this Comprehensive Spending Review to invest in the prevention and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases, which collectively make up the single biggest driver of health inequalities, and still currently cause a quarter of all deaths in the UK.
Invest in research
Medical research charities are a vital part of the UK’s research ecosystem contributing to major scientific advances and improvement in patient care, but the Covid-19 pandemic threatens this contribution.
To protect critical medical research and development in the UK over the next three to four years, medical research charities need co-investment by Government.
This is why we are urging the Government to establish the Life Sciences Charity Partnership Fund – a co-investment scheme between Government and charity funders, that would ensure a vital pipeline of funding is maintained to secure the future of the next generation of researchers looking to find scientific breakthroughs which will change the lives of people with heart and circulatory diseases.
Restore public health funding
A key component in the nation’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will be ensuring we have a healthy and resilient population. This means better prevention and detection of heart and circulatory diseases.Local authorities have a vital role to play in this area, but the Public Health Grant has seen year-on-year reductions.
We are urging the Government to restore, at a minimum, the public health grant to 2015/16 levels – though more significant investment is needed to create truly impactful new public health initiatives. With better funding to ensure the delivery of vital health services, we hope to see more effective action in addressing major public health issues such as obesity, smoking and air pollution.
More funding for the NHS Long Term Plan
NHS England’s Long-Term Plan identified action on heart and circulatory diseases as a significant way in which it can improve health outcomes, highlighting it as the single biggest area in which it can save lives over its ten-year cycle.But the Covid-19 pandemic has tested the NHS like never before, and further investment is now needed as the health service seeks to make planned improvements in the post-Covid-19 world.
Current funding arrangements will only see the NHS in England able to maintain current levels of care – a further £4 billion of investment will be needed if improvements in areas such as workforce training and public health are to be realised.
Spend now to save tomorrow
Our chief executive, Dr Charmaine Griffiths, said: “Better health is not only critical to people's lives, it's also vital to deliver the increased productivity and the economic levelling up that the Government has made a priority. Reducing the toll of heart and circulatory diseases is crucial to achieving this.“Britain is currently a powerhouse of scientific innovation, and medical research charities play a central role. But this is imperilled by the Covid-19 pandemic, research has never been more vital. If we are to be a world leader in science in years to come, the Government must support this critical part of the economy through the tough times ahead.
“Similarly, it is essential that the health service and those responsible for improving public health have the funding they need – it should not be a case of staying afloat, but of making progress. We need an NHS fit to meet future challenges, and also a healthy, resilient population in the age of Covid-19.
"The Government has the chance in this year’s Comprehensive Spending Review to make sure the fight against heart and circulatory diseases is maintained through this difficult period from lab bench to bedside – it must seize it.”
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