£22billion NHS cash injection after damning’ Darzi report revealed 350,000 people waited a year for mental health support and infants endured long A&E waits

The announcement of a £22 billion increase in NHS funding brings welcome relief for health leaders, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimating this amounts to a real-terms increase of around four per cent per year over the next two years.

Rachel Reeves said in the budget today, that alongside a larger pot for schools – the country’s health service is set for a ‘long overdue’ cash injection which will see crumbling hospitals rebuilt, ‘thousands’ more hospital beds and a ‘waiting time of 18 months for operations’.

The Chancellor, calling on the recent report by Lord Darzi on the NHS, admitted that despite the dedication of  NHS workers individually, the findings were ‘damning’.

She said: “I am putting an end to the neglect and under investment our NHS 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.

“We have seen that 100,000 infants waited six hours in A & E last year, 350,000 people are waiting a year for mental health support, cancer deaths are higher than in other countries – it is simply unforgivable.

“In the spring we will be set to deliver a 10 year plan from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention. Today we announce a down payment on that plan to see the NHS increase productivity growth by two per cent next year. These reforms are vital but we should be honest, the state of the NHS we have inherited and I quote Lord Darzi ‘the most austere decade since the NHS was founded’ means these reforms must come alongside investment.”

Reeves confirmed that some of her ‘more difficult’ decisions concerning tax, business and NI were grounded in a desire to boost schools and healthcare. Included in the funding is £1.8 billion already spent since July to tackle the ongoing backlog and reduce waiting lists.

According to reports, “the immediate impact on patient experience may be limited, as much of the funding will go toward already agreed-upon staff pay raises and addressing existing deficits”.

The Darzi report underscored the urgent need for capital investment, with NHS buildings in need of repair or complete overhaul. The additional £3.1 billion capital funding falls short of the £13.8 billion maintenance backlog, which, as the King’s Fund points out, is more than the entire capital budget allocated for next year.

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