Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her budget today to the House of Commons, unveiling a package of measures to support the government mantra of building an NHS that is fit for the future.
This week had already seen the treasury announce £1.5bn of capital investment for new surgical hubs and scanners. Before announcing the measures, Reeves addressed some statistics:
- 100,000 infants waiting more than six hours in A&E last year
- 350,000 people waiting a year for mental health services
- Higher cancer mortality than other countries
She also confirmed that the much-talked-about 10-year plan will be launched in the spring – this follows the recent launch of a nationwide consultation to inform said strategy.
Productivity growth
In order to initialise a 2% productivity growth next year, the chancellor announced a £22.6bn increase in the day-to-day health budget as well as a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget for this year and next.
Approximately £1bn of capital investment will be provided next year to address the backlog maintenance for the NHS estate – preliminary ERIC figures recently put the total backlog for estate repairs at nearly £14bn. A further £1.5bn will be used to provide extra hospital beds and free up capacity for an additional one million diagnostic tests.
More details from the review of the New Hospital Programme will be revealed by health secretary Wes Streeting in the coming weeks, according to Reeves, with publication not slated until after the new year. Read National Health Executive’s latest magazine for NHS Confederation CEO Matthew Taylor’s insight on the opportunity said pause has given the health sector.
This will all contribute to the government target of waiting times to be no longer than 18 weeks, added the chancellor.
“Today's budget provides a welcome boost for NHS trust leaders and their teams who are working flat out to improve services, reduce waiting lists and see patients as quickly as possible," said NHS Providers' deputy CEO, Saffron Cordery, in response to the news. "The government has recognised the importance of the NHS to the health of the nation and the economy."
Cordery added, however, that the devil will be in the detail when it comes to the funding increases and that social care reform cannot be delayed any longer.
There will be more expert analysis on this budget over the coming days at https://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/
Image credit: iStock
Video credit: UK Parliament
