Health leaders welcome the money but say it only goes so far and staff shortages need to be fixed.
Image source, PA Media
The NHS in England is to receive an extra £5.9bn in this week’s Budget, the government has announced.
The money will be used to help clear the record backlog of people waiting for tests and scans, and also to buy equipment and improve IT.
More details are due on Wednesday – but Chancellor Rishi Sunak called the money “game-changing”.
Health bodies have welcomed the cash, but said it only goes so far and staff shortages need to be fixed.
The NHS is facing sustained pressure as it grapples with an unprecedented backlog of procedures put on hold due to the pandemic.
More than five million people are waiting for NHS hospital treatment in England, with hundreds of thousands waiting more than a year.
The £5.9bn, set to be officially announced in Wednesday’s Budget and Spending Review, is on top of the £12bn a year that was announced in September.
That money is to be raised through tax increases – the rise in National Insurance and, from 2022, the Health and Social Care Levy – and will be spent on resources such as staffing.
This new money is capital funding, and will be used to pay for infrastructure and equipment.
Some of the £5.9bn – £2.3bn – will be used to fund a big expansion of diagnostic tests, for example through more CT, MRI and ultrasound scans, the government said.
That includes opening more community clinics for scans and tests – which the government had already announced – so people can get seen closer to home.
These centres will help clear the backlog of tests by the end of this Parliament, the government said.
Also included in the £5.9bn total is:
- £1.5bn to be spent on more beds, equipment and new “surgical hubs”, each with four to five surgical theatres to tackle waiting times
- and £2.1bn to be spent on improving IT and digital technology within the NHS – for example, faster broadband.
As part of the UK’s funding formula for the NHS, a proportionate amount will also go to the health services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“This is a game-changing investment in the NHS to make sure we have the right buildings, equipment and systems to get patients the help they need and make sure the NHS is fit for the future,” said Mr Sunak.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the money will help deliver “millions more checks, scans and procedures for patients”.
The aim is to clear, by the end of this Parliament, most of the existing huge backlog in non-urgent tests and procedures that developed during the pandemic.
The chancellor described the investment as game-changing.
But while health bodies have welcomed the extra money, they point to the persistent problems around staffing – extra scanners are no good if you don’t have the trained staff to operate them and interpret the results.
And the pressures on the NHS – being seen right across the UK, in mental health services, community care and A&E departments – show no sign of easing.
Many will be looking closely at the details in Wednesday’s budget to see if further help is on the way.
There have been repeated warnings over the pressures they NHS in England is facing, with chronic staff shortages and a record numbers of people waiting for treatment, many of whom are in pain.
Waiting lists have continued to grow as routine operations have been cancelled throughout the pandemic to make space for Covid patients and the seriously ill.
One report suggested England’s waiting lists could rise to 14 million people by next autumn, as millions who did not come forward for treatment earlier in the pandemic decide to do so.
Staff shortages and infection-control measures also mean hospitals have fewer beds at their disposal.
Those working in the healthcare sector said they were grateful for the money – but many said it was not enough to keep up with costs and demand.
NHS Providers – which speaks for hospital and other NHS trusts – said the money will help, but added: “What we’ve got to make sure is we have the workforce in place to deliver the services.”
“This isn’t just about waiting lists,” said Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers deputy chief executive.
“We’ve got high demand in mental health, community services, and in urgent and emergency care.”
The NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare leaders, said the funding “falls short of what is needed to get services completely back on track”.
“We support the analysis carried out by the Health Foundation, which confirmed that the NHS’s capital budget should increase by at least £1.8bn a year over the next three years and that in terms of revenue funding, the NHS will need an extra £10 billion from April.”
And it added: “Finally, any investment will only deliver if there are the right number and mix of workers to do so.
“Recruitment is ongoing but with 80,000 vacancies across the NHS and fully-qualified GPs per patient having dropped by 10% over the past five years, this is a long-term issue that cannot be fixed quickly.”
Meanwhile, a senior health chief has urged people to get their Covid-19 booster jab as the NHS sends out a further two million invites this week.
NHS medical director Prof Stephen Powis said: “Winter is coming and infection rates are rising and so it’s now really important that everyone receiving their invite for a booster vaccine from the NHS this week books in at one of the convenient vaccinations sites around the country offering this crucial, additional protection.”
NHS England said more than five million people have already been given the additional jab since the vaccination programme began administering them last month.
On Sunday, a further 39,962 coronavirus cases were recorded and 72 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
