Responding to the passage of the Health and Social Care Levy (Repeal) Bill in the House of Commons today, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin said:

"Leaders across NHS trusts will hold the Treasury to their word following confirmation from the chief secretary that the NHS and social care will get 'not a single penny less' after the health and social care levy is scrapped.

"Trust leaders will feel some reassurance that overall funding for health and social care services is safe – for now – but further unresolved questions remain over the NHS budget, with extra scrutiny expected at the upcoming medium term fiscal event.

"The NHS budget is taking hits in every direction, with high energy costs, inflation, the cost of pay awards not fully funded by the government and cuts in funding to deal with the continuing impact of COVID-19 all taking their toll.

"And just last week we heard dire warnings from national NHS leaders that investment in key services such as cancer, mental health and primary care may have to be completely revisited because of these serious budgetary pressures.

"Everyone in the NHS is committed to delivering high-quality care, but this will be increasingly difficult to deliver as trust leaders contend with a multitude of budgetary pressures alongside stretching efficiency targets and staggering levels of staff vacancies ahead of what is expected to be an incredibly challenging winter."