Our National Health Service made a herculean effort in order for our country to weather the storm of the Covid pandemic. They provided unstinting health care for those most seriously effected by coronavirus and requiring hospital treatment. Then they deliver one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world. As we remove the restrictions so necessary to tackle the virus and learn to live it the NHS now faces a new challenge.
My ministerial colleague, Sajid Javid, has announced plans and new funding to help the NHS tackle the significant backlog in treatment. Throughout the pandemic the NHS cared for more than 700,000 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the UK. Despite the huge pressure this had on services, the NHS continued to protect and prioritise urgent treatment. This meant that less urgent – though still important – treatment had to be paused. In addition, the NHS estimates that as many as 10 million people did not come forward to seek the help they needed during the pandemic. We are encouraging them to do so now. As a result, the number of people waiting for elective care in England now stands at 6 million and will continue to rise.
The Government is prioritising the reduction of these backlogs with significant funding to support the NHS in England to do this, with £2 billion this year and £8 billion over the next three years. The funding commits the NHS to implement a plan to deliver 9 million extra tests, checks and procedures over the next three years. And to increase elective activity to levels greater than what was provided pre-pandemic.
Whilst ongoing uncertainties in relation to the pandemic and demand for hospital treatment make it challenging to predict how quickly we will be able to recover elective services this funding will make a difference.
This news comes alongside the increased capacity of more doctors and nurses working in the NHS than ever before, and record numbers of students applying for medical school or nurse training. We will further increase capacity by supporting and growing the workforce, including healthcare support workers and NHS reservists, as well as expanding and separating out elective and diagnostic service capacity.
It will take time for us to recover from the pandemic but there is a clear plan, backed with funding, to ensure that our NHS is well-placed to help with that recovery.