Government gives H2 clarity

And, announcing his longer-term plan to recover the NHS backlog and reform and fund social care, prime minister Boris Johnson promised £36bn over the next three years. He announced the money, to be allocated from April 2022, would be raised initially from a 1.25% increase in National Insurance. The tax will become a separate levy on earnings from 2023, and dividend tax rates will also increase by 1.25%.

In the shorter term – the last six months of the 2021/22 financial year – an additional £5.4bn will be allocated to the NHS in England.

The NHS had been calling for clarity on the funding for the second half of the financial year, and the Department of Health and Social Care said the allocation included £2.8bn to cover Covid costs, including infection control measures, and £1bn to continue elective recovery. Allied to the recovery funding, there will be £478m to continue the discharge to assess programme, which helped move patients safely out of hospital to community or home support, and £500m in capital funding for additional theatre capacity and technology that will increase productivity. A further £600m will be allocated for ‘day-to-day’ costs.

‘This funding will go straight to the frontline, to provide more patients with the treatments they need but aren’t getting quickly enough,’ Mr Johnson said. ‘We will continue to make sure our NHS has what it needs to bust the Covid backlogs and help the health service build back better from the worst pandemic in a century.’

However, the Department reiterated its earlier warning that waiting lists could rise as high as 13 million, despite the additional investment. Health and care secretary Sajid Javid  (pictured) said: ‘We know waiting lists will get worse before they get better as people come forward for help, and I want to reassure you the NHS is open, and we are doing what we can to support the NHS to deliver routine operations and treatment to patients across the country.’

The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers welcomed the additional funding for the rest of the financial year. In a joint statement, confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor and providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: ‘The NHS can now get on with the huge task it has ahead of what we anticipate will be one of the most challenging winters the service has ever faced.’

They continued: ‘But while this funding is welcome, the NHS will be held back by major staff shortages that will make it much harder to clear the backlog. This isn't a short-term fix – we are looking at five to seven years to clear the backlog.’