Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has pledged an extra £2.5bn to help cut NHS waiting lists in today’s Budget.
The increase means a total budget for the NHS in England of £164.9bn for 2024-25.
And £3.4bn more will go towards improving NHS processes largely via technology.
“This will allow the NHS to continue its focus on reducing waiting times, and brings the total increase in NHS funding since the start of the parliament to 13% in real terms,” Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said at the dispatch box this afternoon.
NHS waiting lists have declined slightly recently, but still remain just above 7.6 million people. The issue is expected to be a major one for the national elections expected later this year.
“The NHS is, rightly, the biggest reason most of us are proud to be British,” Hunt said.
“But the systems that support its staff are often antiquated. Doctors, nurses, and ward staff spend hours every day filling out forms when they could be looking after patients.
“When patients don’t show up, or one member of a team is ill, operating theatres are left empty despite long waiting lists.”
More doctors not enough
Hunt said the government had been increasing the number of doctors and nurses.
“The NHS is still recovering from the pandemic but has 42,000 more doctors and 7,000 more nurses than it did under Labour.
“That’s 250 more doctors and 400 more nurses for every single month that we’ve been in office.”
However, he said productivity had declined.
“Although spending has continued to rise every year, public sector productivity remains below pre-pandemic levels – by nearly 6%.
“This demonstrates that the way to improve public services is not always more money or more people – we also need to run them more efficiently.”
NHS technology
Despite that, Hunt will be spending more. Alongside the £2.5bn of extra funding for day-to-day activities, the government will also invest £3.4bn to reform the way the NHS works.
Part of that increased funding will go towards NHS technology, Hunt said: “The investment needed to modernise NHS IT systems so they are as good as the best in the world costs £3.4bn. But it helps unlock £35bn of savings, 10 times that amount.
“So in today’s budget for long-term growth, I have decided to fund the NHS productivity plan in full.”
He said the the funding would significantly reduce the 13 million hours of time doctors spend
on poor IT, freeing up significant capacity and revolutionising treatment for a range of illnesses such as cancer and strokes.
“This will double the investment in technological and digital transformation in the NHS in England and turn the
NHS into one of the most digitally enabled, productive healthcare systems in the world,” Hunt said in his speech.
The investment in NHS technology will be central to a wider NHS productivity plan including workforce productivity improvements set out in the long term workforce plan.
Artificial intelligence
The NHS technology will include greater use of artificial intelligence (AI).
“We will use AI to cut down and potentially cut in half form filling by doctors.”
Hunt said: “Pilots in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have found that this technology can reduce time
spent on discharge summaries by more than 50%. If rolled out across the NHS.
“This could unlock an annual productivity benefit of £500-850m.”
IT systems will also be addressed, with Hunt saying “We will slash the 13 million hours lost by doctors and nurses every year to outdated IT systems.”
Digitisation
Theatre process will also be improved via digitisation.
“We will digitise operating theatre processes, allowing the same number of consultants to do an extra 200,000 operations a year,” he said.
“We will fund improvements to help doctors read MRI and CT scans more accurately and quickly, speeding up results for 130,000 patients every year and saving thousands of lives.”
Attempts will also be made to improve the appointment process.
“We will improve the NHS app so that it can be used to confirm and modify all appointments, reducing up to half a million missed appointments annually and improving patient choice,” Hunt said.
Speaking more widely, he said the NHS plan would be used for other parts of the public sector.
“We want this ground-breaking agreement with the NHS to be a model for all our public services, across education, the police, the courts, and local government.”