Responding to analysis by the Health Foundation's REAL Centre on the value of government health spending following the chancellor's spring Budget, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"Trust leaders are committed to providing high-quality care but the huge financial challenges they're facing are making a tough job even tougher.

"The Budget provided welcome extra funding to help offset the recurrent cost of previous pay deals and more money for NHS technology, but inflationary pressures and rising demand for care mean NHS finances face another year of being relentlessly squeezed.

"Trust leaders are feeling the pinch over cuts to both staff education and training and public health budgets, while also facing major repair bills across the healthcare estate. There's a very real risk too that unless the Treasury fully funds upcoming staff pay awards for 2024/25, NHS England and trusts will once again have to scrabble around to find additional money to meet wage bills.

"We can't go on like this. Trust leaders want to see a shift towards a long-term, multi-year investment across the health service which allows them to plan for the future rather than a stop-start approach to NHS funding which leaves them constantly worrying about budget cuts followed by quick-fix, short-term funding announcements."