The Labour Government has committed an additional £31bn annually towards the day-to-day running of the National Health Service by the 2028-29 financial year.
The plans include up to £10bn on technology and digital transformation, GP training to deliver millions more appointments and rolling out mental health support to all schools.
The move will take the NHS budget from £215.6bn in the current financial year to £246.7bn in 2028-29, an annual real terms increase of 2.7%.
However, the vast majority of the increase is in day-to-day spending which rises from £202bn to £232bn, while capital spending is largely unchanged in real terms as it rises from £13.6bn to £14.8bn.
Addressing Parliament this afternoon, chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) said that since the Labour government was elected last summer, it has recruited 1,700 new GPs, delivered 3.5 million extra appointments and cut waiting lists by more than 200,000 people.
The latest data from NHS England showed 7,420,899 people were on the waiting list in March, up from 7,402,128 in February.
Additional £31bn for running of NHS
Reeves announced a significant increase in funding across the NHS as part of the Spending Review.
“To back the doctors and nurses that we rely on and to make sure that the NHS is there whenever we need it, I am proud to announce today that this Labour government is making a record cash investment in our National Health Service, increasing real terms day-to-day spending 3% per year for every single year of this Spending Review, an extra £29bn per year for the day-to-day running of our health service,” she said.
“That is what we will deliver,” she continued.
“More appointments, more doctors, more scanners.”
Tech budget increased
Reeves added that she was increasing the NHS technology budget by almost 50% as part of the settlement.
“We are investing £10m to bring our analogue health system into the digital age including through the NHS app, so patients can manage their prescriptions, get their test results and book appointments all in one place,” she continued.
“We are shifting more care back to the community, providing more funding to support the training of thousands more GPs to deliver millions more appointments.
“We are investing more in prevention to meet our manifesto commitment of providing mental health support teams in all schools in England by the end of this Parliament.
“These investments will enable the delivery of our upcoming 10-year plan for health and put the NHS firmly back on the path to renewal.”
