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The budget makes it clear that the departments will be facing real cuts of around 25% in the coming months. Local Government is likely to face a similar challenge, yet at the same time health budgets are to be protected. As Iain Martin makes clear here, this could cause problems in the future, because there is a real need to tackle some obvious waste in the NHS. Martin argues that the problem will be that the efficiency initiatives planned for health will generate more money than can be reasonably ploughed back into health, especially when other departments are being cut so heavily.

Councils risk becoming the Health Service's poor neighbours, they will be under pressure to cut costs dramatically at a time when the demand for their services will be increasing because of the aging population and the expected rise in unemployment. 

If that is the case, why doesn't the new Government allocate some of the NHS budget for investment in social protection, with Social Care teams becoming partially funded by NHS trusts? This may seem inappropriate when we consider the importance of housing and unemployment on social welfare, but is it not difficult to imagine that the NHS might look after the needs of those with dementia or those with severe alcoholism.