The NHS and social services will be tested to the limit, say MPs Government spending plans will test the NHS and social services in England to the limit, according to a report by the Commons Health Select Committee.
The MPs say the plans assume efficiency savings on a scale never before seen in the NHS.
Similar assumptions are made about local authority social service departments.
It calls for the Department of Health to deliver a “credible plan” on where the efficiency gains will be made.
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has estimated the health service needs to make efficiency savings worth between £15bn and £20bn over the next four years.
The chairman of the Health Select Committee, former Conservative health secretary Stephen Dorrell, said that target will test both the NHS and social services to the limit.
“There is no precedent for efficiency gains on this scale in the history of the NHS, nor has any precedent yet been found of any healthcare system anywhere in the world doing anything similar,” Mr Dorrell said.
The committee also looked at adult social services because of significant cross-over between care services and the NHS.
“It is unfortunate that the government has not yet provided even a broad estimate of the likely reorganisation costs”
Health Select Committee Report into Public Expeniture
The report says the Local Government Spending Review “cannot fail to pose a challenge for the successful delivery of social care”.
The committee also raises concerns about the costs of the government’s reorganisation of the NHS, arguing they have not been clearly laid out.
Ministers have said the reorganisation will cost around £1.7bn, but the committee is not so sure.
“It is unfortunate that the government has not yet provided even a broad estimate of the likely reorganisation costs; and it is unhelpful for the government to continue to cite the £1.7 billion figure, as it does not relate to their specific proposals,” the report says.
A Department of Health spokesman said the government was committed to sustaining and improving services in the face of a tough economic climate, but efficiency savings were needed.
“Reform isn’t an option, it’s a necessity in order to sustain and improve our NHS.
“We have been clear that the NHS must cut back on bureaucracy, not on front-line care.”
The spokesman said additional funding worth £2bn would be available by 2015.
“This additional investment will make it possible to protect people’s access to care, without tightening eligibility.
“Councils and NHS partners will need to work harder to improve efficiency and achieve improved value for money.”
Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents 95% of organisations that make up the NHS, said the committee had got it exactly right.
“All at the same time, NHS trusts are grappling with unprecedented efficiency savings, major management cuts and radical structural reforms.
“It’s a mixture that is causing real anxiety among NHS leaders.”
And the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services also warned that some tough years lie ahead.
Association president Richard Jones said a gap will open up between the needs and demands of older people and adults with disabilities, and the resources available to meet them.
“Social services directors will make every efficiency saving that they capable of.
“But I fear that, as Members of Parliament have confirmed today, it will be impossible in some authorities to maintain the standards of care we provide without restricting eligibility for those services.”
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