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The NHS - is it all about the money, money, money?

As Jeremy Hunt and Simon Stevens appear before the Health Select Committee in an emergency session on NHS finances, Paul Hobday explains why 'where's the money coming from' is the wrong question.

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Image: Surprise! The UK has discovered it has some older people.

Whenever NHS funding is debated – as it will be this afternoon when health secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS boss Simon Stevens appear before the Health Select Committee - the first question asked is “where is the money coming from”? That seems to be the only NHS question new Prime Minister Theresa May is interested in – and it is rumoured she has already made it clear the answer is “not from government”.

“Where is the money coming from” is an understandable and obvious question to ask - but it is also the wrong one.