NHS reveals plan to charge '£75 a night bed and board' fee for hospital stays to fix budget holes

'If the NHS cannot afford to fund everything, then it will need to make tough choices about what it does fund'

By Dave Lancaster |

15:59 07 October 2014

'Hotel costs' could be coming to NHS hospitals under new proposals to potentially charge patients for their overnight stays.

Senior health managers spoke to the Independent about the need “think the unthinkable” in order to ensure existing funding can match patient needs.

Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: “If the NHS cannot afford to fund everything, then it will need to make tough choices about what it does fund.

“Do we think about increasing our tolerance for longer wait [for care], or do we say ‘NHS funding is only for the health aspects of care and treatment’, which means patients being asked to cover their hotel costs for bed and board?”

Another senior NHS source suggested that the fees 'could be means-tested, and set at around £75 per night' according to the newspaper's report.

An unnamed source told The Independent that the funding gap will force the health service into a harsh reassessment of its output: “You would get into a position where you were doing anything that you can that reduces cost, that brings in money, where you can justifiably say: ‘this isn’t paying for healthcare’.

“Do we say to reasonably well-off people: ‘your healthcare is free, but we are going to charge you £75 per night board and lodging’?”

However, a Department of Health spokesman seemed confident that the current business model of free at point of use healthcare would not change: "The NHS will remain free at the point of use. We know that with an ageing population there's more pressure on the NHS, which is why we’ve increased the budget by £12.7bn over this Parliament and are investing in community services to keep people living healthier at home for longer.”