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, which has been worsened by the pandemic, 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 welcomed the cash, but said staff shortages need to be fixed.
Health Secretary SajidJavid said the funding was “new money” and that MrSunak would set out exactly where it was coming from on Wednesday.
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 will 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.
The £5.9bn will be used to pay for physical infrastructure and equipment – not day-to-day spending.
