article_snippet.sent: The former head of NHS this morning launched an extraordinary public attack on Labour for being the only party not to commit to an extra £8billion a year for the health service.
article_snippet.sent: Warning:Sir David, has warned of a 'substantial financial problem' at the heart of NHS and says a 'substantial financial problem' at the heart of the NHS is being ignored by politicians .
article_snippet.sent: ’ Sir David said it was vital for NHS for there to be a
article_snippet.sent: ‘political consensus’ guaranteeing NHS budget.
article_snippet.sent: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt this morning weighed in behind Sir David Sir David admitting that NHS NHS faced 'a significant financial challenge over the next Parliament'.
article_snippet.sent: Sir David's intervention came after Mike Dixon, leading GP and Chair of the NHS Alliance also laid into Labour.
article_snippet.sent: Sir David's intervention said: ‘NHS will be extremely worried by the lack of political consensus around the £8billion funding for the NHS’ five-year plan. '
article_snippet.sent: Sir David warned that there was a 'substantial financial problem' at the heart of NHS and claimed the financial peril
article_snippet.sent: The package was criticised at a time when Sir David Nicholson 'Nicholson Challenge' was imposing £20billion in efficiency savings on NHS.
article_snippet.sent: The former head of NHS England also cast doubt on Tory and Liberal Democrat plans to fund the health service.
article_snippet.sent: Sir David Nicholson said the so-called 'Stevens plan' Tory and Liberal Democrat have signed up to, which involves the government injecting £8 billion cash into the NHS while gaining £22 billion from efficiency savings, will be difficult to implement.
article_snippet.sent: Sir David launched 'Nicholson's challenge' in 2009, when Sir David ran NHS England, and urged staff to find £20billion in 'efficiency savings' by 2015 - but £ failed.
article_snippet.sent: Sir David says the situation today is similarly grave and warned that the NHS will have to take 'emergency action' such as freezing recruitment.
article_snippet.sent: Savings could mean that patients could be forced to wait longer waits for treatment, more expensive drugs may not be used and it will be even harder to see a GP.
highlights_snippet.sent: Sir David Nicholson said NHS NHS has a 'substantial financial problem' which needs sorting .
  