Jeremy Hunt warns Tories may not be able to fulfil NHS pledges because ‘Brexit could go wrong’ Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted his entire plan of increased investment and staffing to secure the future of the […]

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted his entire plan of increased investment and staffing to secure the future of the NHS depends on Theresa May securing a good Brexit deal for the UK.

Mr Hunt has already announced an increase in the number of medical school places by up to a quarter, meaning up to 1,500 more student places a year from September 2018. He has also pledged to recruit 5,000 extra GPs by 2020 as well as extra nurses and 10,000 more mental health workers.

However, speaking to i while out campaigning in his South West Surrey constituency on Tuesday, Mr Hunt said all those promises hinged on what position Britain finds itself in following two years of negotiations with Brussels on the terms of the UK’s departure from the European Union.

The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

Audio: When i bumped into Hunt on the campaign trail

“Every one cares passionately about the NHS. They also know there’s not a magic money tree and in the end the Brexit negotiations will determine whether our economy stays strong and we can carry on putting more money into the NHS, which is what people want,” he said.

Mr Hunt said his priorities for the NHS after the election, should the Conservatives retain power, would be “more doctors, more nurses” and increased health funding “on the back of a strong economy”.

If Brexit ‘goes wrong’

‘There’s not a magic money tree and in the end the Brexit negotiations will determine whether our economy stays strong and we can carry on putting more money into the NHS.’ Jeremy Hunt

When asked whether he is confident of reaching his targets of boosting the number of NHS staff in primary and acute care by 2020, he told i: “Well, we’ve increased doctor training places by [1,500 a year from September 2018] so the only thing that could upset that is if Brexit goes wrong and we don’t have the resources to put into it, but that’s what we want to do.”

In a speech in October last year, Mr Hunt said the extra 1,500 student places a year amounts to “the biggest annual increase in medical school intake in the NHS’s history and will deliver a profound change”.

Leading Brexit campaigners, such as Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith, were pilloried during the referendum campaign for pledging an extra £350m a week for the NHS once the UK left the EU.

Mr Hunt, who campaigned to Remain and was the first minister to call for a second referendum on the terms of leaving the European Union, has distanced himself from that saying he “can’t deliver” it and that people want “credible promises” instead.

How Brexit could affect the NHS

Mr Hunt has drafted in around 200 new officials to work on Brexit negotiations for the Department of Health alone. Among the many key areas up for negotiation are the future of the European Health Insurance Card, which allows Britons free healthcare in the other 27 EU countries, and what to charge EU migrants for healthcare in the UK.

Meanwhile NHS staff, who received a 1 per cent pay rise earlier this year after enduring a pay freeze for seven years, are fearful of losing many colleagues once the Brexit negotiations are complete.

The Royal College of GPs has warned that patient care must not take a “back seat to Brexit” in the run-up to the General Election. It claims that patient safety could be at risk unless the status of EU workers is guaranteed and existing pledges to improve general practice are prioritised.

On the hunt for Hunt – how I finally managed to speak to the Health Secretary

It is more than a year since I first requested an interview with Jeremy Hunt – when I was appointed i’s Health Correspondent in March last year. After a visit to meet the Department of Health press team, his then head of media relations said the Health Secretary “likes to read what you’ll be writing about first” before deciding whether to meet.

The months ticked by and no interview ever came about. Given the NHS is arguably facing its toughest time since its birth in 1948, a lot of stories I – as well as other health correspondents elsewhere – write about often feature criticisms of the way the NHS has been managed.

In February, when i carried out a week-long series of investigations into the future of the NHS based on NHS England’s 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plans, I tried once again to interview the Health Secretary – as well as the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens. However, neither wanted to talk

In the end it was sheer luck that I finally managed to speak to him yesterday, spotting him while he was out campaigning in Godalming, near to his old school, Charterhouse, in his South West Surrey constituency. Despite holding a majority of almost 30,000, he and his team were still knocking on doors and pressing the flesh.

“Do you live here?” he asked, after I introduced myself. After informing him I was only in the area to speak to his constituents he said he had to rush off to another meeting, but we did “walk and talk”, briefly at least. A chat over coffee remains the goal.

Perhaps after 8 June, Mr Hunt?