Injection of £22.6bn will boost NHS battle against waiting lists, says Reeves

The NHS in England is to receive a £22.6bn cash injection over two years, the chancellor announced yesterday, in what she said was the biggest spending increase outside Covid since 2010.

- Anna Bawden

But health experts warned that NHS patients may not feel the impact of the spending as much of the increase would be absorbed by pay rises and higher care costs.

Announcing the "down payment" on the government's 10-year plan for the NHS, due in spring 2025, Rachel Reeves said the NHS was the nation's "most cherished public service".

"This is the largest real-terms growth in day-to-day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010," she said.

"Because of this record injection of funding, because of the thousands of additional beds that we have secured, and because of the reforms that we are delivering in our NHS, we can now begin to bring waiting lists down more quickly," she said.

Overall, the Treasury said, the average annual increase to the day-to-day NHS budget will be 4%.

Reeves also announced a "record" £3.1bn two-year increase in the Department of Health and Social Care's capital budget, a 10.9% average annual increase. This includes £1bn for the repairs backlog and to tackle crumbling concrete, known as Raac, in NHS buildings.

There will be £1.5bn for new surgical hubs and scanners, and £70m for new radiotherapy machines.