Patients 'unlikely to notice' record rise in NHS funding in the Budget

by · Mail Online

The NHS won a record rise in funding in the Budget – but patients are unlikely to notice, say experts.

Rachel Reeves awarded an additional £22.6billion for routine spending, spread over this year and next, and a further £3.1billion for the likes of beds and buildings.

The Chancellor described it as 'the largest real-terms growth in day-to-day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010'.  

But leading health think-tanks cautioned the money will merely 'help sustain services' as it is swallowed up by staff pay rises, repairs and inefficiencies.

The extra cash comes less than two months after Sir Keir Starmer promised the NHS would receive 'no more money without reform'.

The Prime Minister said at the time 'working people cannot afford to pay more, so it's reform or die'.

Announcing the Government's plans for the NHS, Ms Reeves told the Commons: 'In the spring, we will publish a 10-year plan for the NHS to deliver a shift from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
The Budget tax hike rivals 1993's eyewatering revenue-raiser in the wake of Black Wednesday - and might be even bigger if measured at current prices rather than as a proportion of GDP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting (pictured on a visit to St George's Hospital) has warned the additional funding set to be announced in Labour's first Budget is unlikely to deliver major improvements

Responding to the Budget, Siva Anandaciva at The King's Fund think-tank said: 'The Chancellor has said that 'change must be felt', but the health spending announced today is unlikely to be enough for patients to see a real improvement in the care they receive.

'The 3.8 per cent real-terms uplift over two years to the Department of Health and Social Care budget will help sustain services but is unlikely to drastically improve care over the rest of this year, and certainly not overnight.'

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He said the extra capital funding will be only a 'modest downpayment on what is needed to tackle unsafe and outdated NHS facilities', with the maintenance backlog for buildings and equipment estimated to be £13.8billion.

Becks Fisher of the Nuffield Trust think-tank agreed, saying: 'The funding promised today will meet the Health Service's immediate day-to-day needs, but will not stretch far towards the Government's ambitions to rebuild an ailing NHS.'

Some £1.5billion of the capital funding will be for new hospital beds, surgical hubs and diagnostic centres, so the NHS can complete 'tens of thousands' more procedures and over a million additional tests.

This will ensure 'people waiting for their treatment can get it as quickly as possible', Ms Reeves added.

The Government will publish a ten-year plan for the NHS next spring, which will 'deliver a shift from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention'.

She said the extra funding is a 'downpayment' on that plan, which will enable the NHS to deliver 2 per cent productivity growth next year.

The Government will publish a ten-year plan for the NHS next spring, which will 'deliver a shift from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention' (pictured: Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting)
An recent analysis found the NHS is heading for an 'unfunded overspend' of £4.8billion this financial year, mainly due to bumper pay deals for staff

 Ms Reeves said the totality of investment in the NHS will ensure the Government can 'begin to bring waiting lists down more quickly'.

This will be done by delivering on their manifesto commitment for 40,000 extra hospital appointments a week, she added.

Schools, which received a £2.3billion increase to pay for 6,500 new teachers in key subjects, were another major recipient of Budget funding.

Referring to her own experience of being taught in 'prefab huts' when she was at secondary school in the 1990s, Ms Reeves also awarded the Department for Education £6.7billion for capital spending.

That figure includes £1.4billion to rebuild the 500 schools 'in greatest need' and £2.1billion for maintenance to ensure all 'children can learn somewhere safe'.

Budget 2024: Key points

Rachel Reeves became the first female chancellor to present a Budget today as she presented Labour's first government economic plan for 14 years.

In her Budget the Chancellor: 

  • Confirmed she was raising taxes by £40billion 
  • Froze fuel duty, when it was expected she would increase it, because of the impact on consumers.
  • Increased employer National Insurance Contributions by 1.2 points to 15 per cent from April, while reducing threshold from £9,100 to £5,000, to raise £25bn.
  • Made inherited pensions subject to inheritance tax.
  • Increased lower rate of capital gains tax from 10 to 18 per cent, and the higher rate from 20 to 24 per cent
  • Reveals economic growth is forecast to be just 1.6 per cent by the end of Labour's first term in office.
  • Announced a crackdown on fraud in the UK's welfare system, as part of reforms to ensure welfare spending is 'more sustainable'. 
  • Pledged to maintain the Bank of England's 2 per cent inflation target. 
  • Confirms National Living Wage will rise to £12.21 next year. 
  • Said she was 'deeply proud to be Britain's first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer'.
  • Sparked uproar from the Tories by claiming it was 'not the first time that it has fallen to Labour to rebuild Britain'.
  • Accused the Tories of calling an early election 'to avoid making difficult choices' in the Budget themselves.
  • Announced she is setting aside £11.8bn and £1.8bn to pay victims of the infected blood and Post Office scandals respectively.