NHS to be given extra £5.4bn over next six months to cover Covid costs and backlog – as it happened
Department of Health and Social Care admits money will not be enough to stop waiting lists rising before they start to fall. This live blog is now closed – for the latests on coronavirus, follow our dedicated blog
- Ministers announce £5.4bn more for NHS to tackle Covid and waiting lists
- Keir Starmer rules out supporting national insurance rise
There is clearly a difference between the Taliban and groups like Isis-K and al-Qaida and indeed, there is suspicion that the Abbey Gate attack from Isis-K, that part of the intention was to target the Taliban.
So clearly, the Taliban if it wants to be an effective administration of some sort, if it wants to avoid all of the disastrous mistakes made previously, they will have to live up to the assurances they have made to avoid Afghanistan becoming a harbour or safe haven for terrorism.
It means three of the four UK nations are now experiencing a jump in rates.
Scotland is continuing to see a sharp rise in numbers, with 796.3 cases per 100,000 people recorded in the seven days to September 2 – up week-on-week from 644.8.
The Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that the government is giving the NHS an extra £5.4bn to cover Covid costs over the next six months. (See 9.39am.) It says £1bn of this will cover the costs of catch-up operations that are needed because treatment was postponed during the pandemic.
These are the figures for England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will get up to £1bn in total under the usual Barnett rules.
The waiting list for routine operations and treatments such as hip replacements and eye cataract surgery could potentially increase to as high as 13 million. While today’s extra £1bn funding will go some way to help reduce this number, waiting lists will rise before they improve as more people who didn’t seek care over the pandemic come forward.
£478m of this new funding has been dedicated to continue the hospital discharge programme so staff can ensure patients leave hospital as quickly and as safely as possible, with the right community or at-home support. This will free up thousands of extra beds and staff time to help the NHS recover services. The government has also invested £500 million in capital funding for extra theatre capacity and productivity-boosting technology, to increase the number of surgeries able to take place.
Today’s additional £5.4bn funding over the next 6 months is critical to ensuring the health service has what it needs to manage the ongoing pandemic and helping to tackle waiting lists.
We know waiting lists will get worse before they get better as people come forward for help, and I want to reassure you the NHS is open, and we are doing what we can to support the NHS to deliver routine operations and treatment to patients across the country.
Read the original article at The Guardian