Funding to support the delivery of an extra two million NHS
operations, scans and appointments a year to significantly cut
waiting lists across England has been announced by the Chancellor
and Health Secretary today. This comes following over a
decade of neglect and underinvestment of the NHS.
Ahead of her Budget on Wednesday, the Chancellor has confirmed
that the NHS will receive the funding needed to deliver an extra
40,000 elective appointments per week, delivering on one of the
Government's First Steps in office to reduce waiting times in the
NHS. This includes an additional £1.8bn the government has
invested in elective activity this year since the July
Statement.
This will be supported by a significant uplift of capital
investment, with new capacity including surgical hubs and
scanners, meaning thousands of additional procedures and millions
of diagnostic tests across the country, alongside funding
for new radiotherapy machines to improve cancer treatment.
In his recent independent investigation into the NHS in England,
Lord Darzi highlighted that the NHS is in “critical condition”.
Patients across England are waiting too long, with the waiting
list at over 7.6 million in August. In the same month, over
280,000 had been waiting for an operation, scan or appointment
for over a year.
Today's announcement is an integral step in reducing the waiting
list and puts the NHS on course to meet the commitment that 92%
of people wait less than 18 weeks to start treatment in the
NHS.
The Chancellor's budget on Wednesday will set out how this
government will fix the foundations to deliver change, by fixing
the NHS and rebuilding Britain, while ensuring working people
don't face higher taxes in their payslips. It will focus on
“investment, investment, investment” in order to get the economy
moving again and demonstrate how this government will take the
long-term decisions needed to grow the economy and restore the
country's public services.
Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
“Our NHS is the lifeblood of Britain. It exemplifies public
services at their best, there for us when we need it and free at
the point of use, for everyone in this country.
“That's why I am putting an end to the neglect and
underinvestment it has seen for over a decade now.
“We will be known as the government that took the NHS from its
worst crisis in its history, got it back on its feet again and
made it fit for the bright future ahead of it."
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
“Our NHS is broken, but it's not beaten, and this Budget is the
moment we start to fix it.
“The Chancellor is backing the NHS with new investment to cut
waiting lists, which stand at an unacceptable 7.6 million today.
Alongside extra funding, we're sending crack teams of top
surgeons to hospitals across the country, to reform how they run
their surgeries, treat more patients, and make the money go
further.”
Building an NHS fit for the future is one of this Government's
five priority missions; but it is clear that alongside
sustainable investment, the NHS will need significant reform
across the board to be truly transformed.
The Chancellor has therefore confirmed an ambitious reform
programme across health and social care in England, including
reforming the delivery of elective activity and patient pathways.
Billions of pounds are set to be invested in technology and
digital innovations across the NHS to boost productivity and
unlock significant savings for the NHS in the long-term.
The funding comes after the Government last week launched ‘Change
NHS: help build a health service fit for the future', a national
conversation to help develop the 10 Year Health Plan, which will
set out our long-term vision for health and the path to
delivering the three shifts to reform and transform health:
hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to
prevention.
Starting next week, the NHS will help people back to health and
back to work by sending teams of top clinicians to hospitals
across the country to help roll out reforms to cut waiting lists
in hospitals – which will start with those in areas of the
highest economic activity.
