Lib Dem plans will give Cumbria CCG nearly £79 million extra

Tim Farron has announced that under Lib Dem NHS plans Cumbria CCG will gain £78,900,000 extra to help care for local people in our area.

Liberal Democrats have set out plans to safeguard the NHS for the future. NHS funding would increase by at least £8bn per year in real terms by 2020. This means that Cumbria will benefit by nearly £79 million.

The Liberal Democrats are the first party to present a plan to meet the financial needs of the NHS as set out by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England in his Five Year Forward View.

Labour have only pledged an extra £2.5 billion for the NHS in 2017-18, and have not guaranteed this for the whole of the next Parliament. They have no plan to eliminate the deficit, so they will not be able to fund the £8 billion increase the NHS needs by 2020. The Conservatives have made grand promises about the extra funding the NHS needs, but have so far failed to say how they would pay for it.

This Lib Dem proposal follows on from another announcement by Tim, who said that public sector workers must now start receiving pay increases by at least the rate of inflation.

That's a minimum pay rise over the next two years of £350 for a nurse at Westmorland General Hospital on £25,000, £420 for a police officer in Cumbria constabulary on £30,000 and nearly £500 for a teacher any of our local schools on £35,000.

Tim said: "My priority is boosting our local NHS and trying to end the funding gap that Cumbria faces. Our pledge to provide Cumbria a further £79 million which will help pay for more doctors, nurses and midwives and pay for better services at Westmorland General and in our GP practices.

"But more than that, it will help us to spend more on things like improving mental health for people in Cumbria and offer the services closer to where people live."