Will the NHS’s £22bn cash boost disappear into the abyss?

What will happen to the additional £22 billion allotted to the NHS in Labour’s first Budget? Will it transform the service – and reduce the NHS England waiting list – or disappear into the abyss? 

This remains one of the biggest outstanding questions from the Budget just under two weeks ago. Over half the tax rises announced – roughly £22 billion – went to topping up day-to-day spending in the NHS. Yet despite Labour repeatedly prompting that there would be no cash without reform, there were no new requirements or productivity improvements attached to the additional funds. 

So what can the public expect? An interesting new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shines some light on attempts to improve productivity in the health service over the past year. The upside: improvements have been made from 2023. The downside: productivity in the NHS is still far below pre-pandemic levels, despite near-record levels of resources and an increase in the number of staff.