On Wednesday 30 October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the new government's Autumn budget. It was a milestone in many ways, as this was the first budget from a Labour government since the Conservatives took power and the first from a female chancellor in the UK's history. Before the budget, Reeves had stated that she was ‘putting an end to the neglect and under investment the NHS has seen for over a decade’ – so what was promised for the health service?
The NHS in England is to receive an additional £22.6 billion over 2 years, meaning the total budget will increase to £192 billion in 2024/5. Reeves 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 and move towards our target for waiting times to be no longer than 18 weeks’.
Ahead of the budget the government announced that the NHS would spend on capital projects, including delivery of an extra 40 000 elective appointments per week – one of its first steps in office to reduce waiting times. This includes an additional £1.8 billion the government has invested in elective activity this year since the July Statement. The chancellor also pledged £3 billion for equipment and buildings improvements.
The budget announcement was received with cautious optimism from many. Professor Philip Banfield, British Medical Association council chair, said: ‘It's welcome news that the government has listened to our calls to begin re-investing in the health service. However, despite what seem like huge headline numbers, given the current precarious state of the NHS, this is not going to put the NHS back on its feet immediately – but it is a promising start’.
In terms of much-needed funding for the social care system, the budget has allocated a £600 million grant, which critics suggest will not be nearly enough to rescue the sector, currently in deficit. The government has promised that its 10-year plan for the NHS will be launched next year and that this will provide for a move ‘from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention’.
Siva Anandaciva, Chief Analyst at The King's Fund, welcomed the extra funding but said the government has not provided enough clarity on overall budgets to support public health services. ‘On the whole, this budget has been a starting point for the investment and reform that is needed to begin to stabilise the trajectory of NHS performance, but it is not enough for the system to deliver the wholesale shift needed for a health and care system fit for the future. To achieve that, more funding will be needed in next year's comprehensive spending review.’