Responding to the Labour Party’s announcement it will “wage war on NHS waste” Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“The NHS is recognised as one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the developed world, but that does not mean our members do not accept that more could be done to improve productivity. Health leaders and their teams are always looking at ways to improve efficiency, but mandating savings plans from Westminster risks throwing up more problems than it would solve.

“A new government should recognise the need to invest properly in the NHS: this means its staff, its infrastructure, and its estate. These are three areas where our members say that new investment could fuel increased productivity. But not all of this will have short-term benefits – training and recruiting enough permanent staff to drive down the spending on agencies will take many years. Throwing all the pagers in the bin will only save money if they are replaced with something cheaper.

“Local health leaders and their system partners should be empowered to target additional cash where they need it, not have their spending set centrally.

“Capital budgets are already being raided to plug rising deficits in the day-to-day NHS budget caused by strikes and other cost pressures. NHS leaders have told us that increased capital spending is their priority for any new investment after the next election and underinvestment has been the number one issue holding back their progress towards greater productivity. The next government must boost capital funding to allow the service to address the maintenance backlog.”