UK: NHS to get additional £5.4 billion to help deal with COVID-19 backlogs

The UK government on Monday, 6 September announced that the NHS in England will get an extra £5.4bn over the next six months in order to help tackle the backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a press release, UK PM Boris Johnson said that the money would go “straight to the front line” and provide people with treatment that they were not getting quickly enough. With this additional £5.4 billion, the government’s total investment in health services for COVID-19 has reached £34 billion for 2021. 

Johnson said, “The NHS was there for us during the pandemic - but treating Covid patients has created huge backlogs”. 

He added, “This funding will go straight to the frontline, to provide more patients with the treatments they need but aren’t getting quickly enough. We will continue to make sure our NHS has what it needs to bust the Covid backlogs and help the health service build back better from the worst pandemic in a century”. 

As per the press note, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid separately said that the way health service dealt with “one of the biggest challenges in its history” had been “phenomenal”. He stressed that the extra funding in England was critical to ensure the health service had what it needed to manage the ongoing pandemic and help tackle waiting lists. However, he raised concerns over the waiting lists, stating that the lists would get worse before they got better as several people are coming forward to seek help. 

He added, “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”. 

Waiting list could reach 13 million

The NHS has sustained pressure and is grappling with a huge backlog of procedures that were put on hold due to the COVID pandemic. The government said that the waiting list for routine operations could reach 13 million, and that delay in treatment of people coming forward during the pandemic was expected to make the situation worse before it improved. Therefore, a part of the funding announced on Monday will go towards opening extra theatre capacity by utilising new technology to increase the number of surgeries that can take place. 

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the money provided welcome certainty for the NHS, which had "pulled out all the stops" to restore services while providing treatment and care to seriously ill COVID-19 patients who need hospital treatment during the toughest summer on record. She added that the additional investment will enable the NHS to deliver more checks, scans and procedures. It will also help to deal with the ongoing costs and pressures of the pandemic as the NHS heads into winter, Pritchard said. 

(Image: AP)