In yesterday’s budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an increase in the day-to-day health budget for the NHS of £22.6 billion and a £3.1 billion increase in the capital budget this year and next.
In addition to the capital already announced earlier this week for surgery hubs, scanners and radiotherapy machines, this will include £1 billion next year to address backlog maintenance, which in this year’s ERIC figures, rose to a record £13.8 billion.
There was no further word about the ongoing review into the New Hospital Programme. Ms Reeves said the Health Secretary would announce the details of this in the coming weeks, but she did confirm that work will “continue at pace” on the seven RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) hospitals.
The Chancellor repeated the Government’s insistence on “reform alongside investment” and insisted “this is the largest real-terms growth in day-to-day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010.” She called it a “downpayment” on the 10-year plan for the NHS, to be delivered in spring 2025.
Health leaders respond
NHS Providers and NHS Confederation have both welcomed the additional funding and reiterated the Government’s position that realism is needed about the speed of progress for the health service, whilst also cautioning that social care still needs urgent attention.
“Vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart, putting quality of care and sometimes the safety of patients and staff at risk. We welcome the government’s commitment to prioritise increasing capital investment across the NHS,” said Saffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers. "To make the NHS more sustainable, innovative and as productive as possible requires long-term, cross-government support to nurture a thriving workforce plus capital investment in buildings and facilities - including digital technology which can transform patient care and free staff from time-consuming admin.”
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, described the budget as “an important first step towards putting the NHS back on to a sustainable footing.” He added: "NHS leaders support the government’s ambitions to meet the rising complexity of patient need, hit performance targets and deliver the best possible care for patients. Our members recognise that investment must come with reform and so will do everything they can to rise to the challenge so that the NHS can meet the government’s expectations on productivity and performance improvements.”
