£3.3bn capital boost needed each year of Spending Review to tackle waiting lists, health leaders warn

Responding to the Health Foundation’s Spending Review 2025 priorities analysis, Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“The most important decision the Spending Review will make for the NHS funding settlement is raising capital investment. NHS leaders have told us that this is a top priority and will be crucial for improving NHS performance, boosting productivity and reducing hospital waiting lists.

"Decades of underinvestment have left the NHS with a £14bn backlog to maintain existing estate and not enough resources to invest in the facilitates, equipment and technology of the future. To tackle waiting lists and build a 21ˢᵗ century health service at least £3.3 billion of extra investment is needed in each year of the Spending Review period. This should in part be funded by greenlighting a new model of private investment, which learns from our own experience and those of other countries around the world.

“Beyond NHS spending, we agree with the Health Foundation that the public health grant and social care investment are crucial to a healthier future. NHS leaders know from bitter experience that protecting NHS funding while cutting other areas ends up costing more in the long run. Studies have shown that 80 per cent of our health is shaped by factors such as education, employment and housing. But in recent years real terms cuts to local government funding for public health and social care have pushed up demand for healthcare and worsened NHS finances and waiting times. A mission-driven Spending Review needs to consider all these factors if the government wants the NHS back on its feet."