Sunak tops up NHS funds

Delivering his first Budget in mid-March, Mr Sunak announced a £5bn Covid-19 fund for the NHS and other public services – almost £3bn will be allocated to health and social care. The Department of Health and Social Care said £1.6bn of the funding will go to local authorities, while £1.3bn will be given to the NHS.

‘Whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with coronavirus – it will get. Whether it’s research for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff, or supporting our brilliant doctors and nurses, whether its millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS,’ Mr Sunak (pictured) told the Commons.

The local authority funding should be used to relieve pressure on all council services, including increasing support for the adult social care workforce and services for the most vulnerable.

The extra NHS funding is earmarked for enhancing hospital discharge processes – ensuring patients who no longer need urgent medical treatment can return home quickly and safely. The Department said this would help free up 15,000 beds across England and give hospitals greater capacity to treat those needing urgent care, including patients with the coronavirus.

The Budget also saw an increase in NHS funding. Mr Sunak said that, in addition to the extra £33.9bn promised to NHS England in the five-year funding settlement (up to and including 2023/24), another £6bn would be allocated over this Parliament. He said that this would help meet Conservative manifesto promises, including the creation of 50 million more GP surgery appointments a year and more free hospital car parking.

Budget documents show a £1.1bn increase in the 2020/21 NHS England capital allocation compared with the spending review documents from last September (£8.2bn compared with £7.1bn) The Budget said ‘operational capital’ would rise by £683m to allow trusts to invest in estates maintenance and refurbishment.