FUNDING provided to the NHS is ‘nowhere near enough’ to meet growing demand, an Oxfordshire health boss has admitted.

David Smith, chief executive of Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), told a meeting today that cash pledged by the Government would only cover the costs of inflation.

He said millions of pounds of savings would have to be found instead to keep up with predicted population growth and the rising number of elderly people.

This was the reason controversial plans were being developed to address a £200m black hole in county NHS finances expected by 2020.

Mr Smith rejected claims health budgets were being ‘cut’, but said: “On money, to be clear, the amount we are receiving is actually going up.

“Our allocation is increasing by about two per cent a year for the next four years, but that will barely cover inflation cost increases.

“So the issue we face is the amount of money population increases and the rising number of elderly people costs is not being provided through taxation.

“Our choices are how we find that money and we are trying to be open with the public and say that we won’t be able to do everything we have previously done everywhere.

“We cannot continue to do everything we have done in the past... the amount of money we are getting is nowhere near enough.”

A spokesman for the Department for Health said: "We know finances are challenging for some parts of the NHS, which is why we have a strong plan to get back on track.

"We are already seeing progress, with 40 fewer trusts in deficit compared to this time last year.

“We are also investing an extra £4bn in the NHS this year to transform services and improve standards of care, which will rise to an extra £10bn per year by 2020/21."

The first part of the CCG’s controversial proposals to change the way services are delivered – called the ‘Oxfordshire Transformation Plan’ – is set to go to consultation in January.