The NHS has fallen back into the 'dark age of austerity' with even longer waiting lists

The Health Foundation's damning verdict comes as a new poll gives Labor a 26-point lead over the Tories. Research director Anita Charlesworth said the NHS will continue to struggle in the future

The nurses demanded a fair wage increase from the government (

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A leading health charity warns that Jeremy Hunt has put the NHS on a crisis footing, plunging it back into the dark age of austerity.

The promised increase in spending is only 1.2% in real terms over the next two years, not the 3% claimed by the Chancellor in her autumn statement, the Health Foundation calculated.

Waiting lists would increase and performance would decrease, the association warned.

His analysis of the Chancellor's figures revealed that the rise is also well below the 2% imposed by Chancellor George Osborne a decade ago during the austerity years.

This means NHS spending will be lower than it was before Covid hit, leaving little room for improvement.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made his autumn statement this week (

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Anita Charlesworth, director of research at the Health Foundation, said: 'The NHS will tread water at best.

"The NHS is likely to remain in a crisis situation, with tough trade-offs like performance and growing waiting lists for the foreseeable future."

The NHS is struggling with a backlog of patients and a shortage of staff and faces demands for efficiency savings.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that waiting lists could exceed eight million.

Its analyst Max Warner said, "The associated costs in terms of poor health and delayed treatment will continue to rise for some time."

The Foundation's damning analysis comes as a poll gave Labor a 26-point lead over the Tories following last week's Budget. Labor is now at 47% against 21% for the Conservatives, according to GBN...