Rachel Reeves promises new funding for extra two million NHS appointments per year
The budget will deliver billions of pounds of new funding for the NHS to unlock two million extra appointments a year, the government has announced.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to unveil £1.5bn for new surgical hubs and scanners alongside £70m for radiotherapy machines.
An additional £1.8bn will also be put towards elective appointments since July.
Speaking ahead of the budget on Wednesday, Ms Reeves called the NHS “the lifeblood of Britain” and pledged to put an end to the “neglect and underinvestment” it has witnessed over the past decade.
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However, she warned that her budget – which will contain some tax hikes to fill a mooted £40bn black hole in the public finances – would be unlikely to “undo 14 years of damage”.
Speaking to reporters at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, on Monday, Ms Reeves said: “I don’t think in one budget you can undo 14 years of damage.
“But in this budget we’re going to provide the resource necessary to deliver on our manifesto commitment to 40,000 additional appointments every single week, to reduce the huge backlog and as well as the increase in the capital budget to take it to its highest level since 2010 to invest in the new scanners and the radiography equipment.”
On a joint visit with Ms Reeves, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted that the extra money might not prevent avoidable deaths and another winter crisis over the coming months.
“I can’t promise that there won’t be people waiting on trolleys and corridors this winter,” he said.
“There are people in that position already today.”
He added: “I can’t pretend that we’re going to be able to wave a Labour magic wand and make all of those problems go away this winter.
“There will still be real problems this winter, but we’re not going to deny the scale of the problems, and we are already supporting system leaders, particularly in places that tend to have the most challenge at winter, to try and minimise the risk this winter.”
The chancellor highlighted the fact staff at the hospital were using equipment purchased under the last Labour government which should have been replaced.
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“It hampers their productivity and efficiency and so as well as the money we need to see reform in the health service, but also modern equipment to get the most out of the qualified staff who are using tools that are not appropriate in 2024,” she said.
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed earlier today that there will be tax rises in the budget to prevent what he called a “devastating return to austerity” and to rebuild public services.
The prime minister did not specify what tax rises would be included, but it is widely expected that employer national insurance will go up, alongside possible increases to capital gains and inheritance tax.
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Ministers have been facing repeated questions about the government’s definition of “working people”, after Labour’s election manifesto pledged not to increase taxes on working people – explicitly ruling out a rise in VAT, national insurance, and income tax.
One of the key announcements that will make it into Wednesday’s event is that the £2 bus fare cap will rise to £3, while £240m will be injected into efforts to get people back into work.
The move has been sharply criticised by opponents, with Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick branding it “clueless”.
Meanwhile, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “We delivered record funding, overhauled productivity and delivered the first NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to support the health service recover from the pandemic and respond to a growing and ageing population.
“If Labour are serious about ensuring the NHS delivers for patients, they must continue this reform instead of holding yet further consultations. The Health Secretary promised no more money without reform – but where is it?”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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