Rachel Reeves announces NHS to get 'record' £29bn boost in spending review

The Chancellor has promised 'more appointments, more doctors and more scanners' for the NHS

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a "record" cash investment in the NHS in her long-anticipated Spending Review.

The Government will increase real term day-to-day spending for the health service by 3 per cent a year, the equivalent of £29bn.

It will mean more appointments, more doctors and more scanners, Reeves said.

Reeves told the House of Commons: "There’s no strong economy without a strong NHS.”

"That is what the British people voted for, and that is what we shall deliver," she added.

Bringing down NHS waiting times was one of Labour's key commitments. Sir Keir Starmer pledged that 92 per cent of patients in England waiting for planned treatment will be seen within 18 weeks of being referred by the next election.

Reeves recalled the Government's record on the NHS since coming into office, including 1,700 new GPs, 3.5 million more appointments and cutting waiting lists by 200,000.

She said the Government was spending £10 billion on digitising services as part of the Government’s 10-year plan for the health service.

She said: "To support that plan, to back the doctors and nurses we rely on, and to make sure the NHS is there whenever we need it, I am proud to announce today that this Labour Government is making a record cash investment in our NHS, increasing real-terms, day-to-day spending by 3 per cent per year for every year of this spending review.

"An extra £29 billion per year for the day-to-day running of the health service. That is what the British people voted for and that is what we will deliver. More appointments. More doctors. More scanners.

"The National Health Service, created by a Labour government, protected by a Labour government, and renewed by this Labour Government."

NHS England boss Sir Jim Mackey said the NHS has done "really well" in the spending review.

Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, he said: "The NHS has done really well relative to other parts of the public service.

"But we all know it's never enough because of the scale of advancement, all the ambition, all things we want to do, the day-to-day cost pressures we’re trying to get on top of, etc.

"We’re always going to be in a world where we want more money, but I think everyone’s starting to accept and understand that we’ve got what the country can afford to give us."

He added: "It’s a huge amount – [the] Government has done us a really good turn compared to other parts of the public service.

"But it’s not going to allow us all to just take our feet off the pedal and just run loose and do what we want to do in this next period, we have still got an awful lot of difficult things to do."