NHS To Get £3.8bn Boost To Halt Financial Crisis

George Osborne has bowed to pressure from the NHS and given the go-ahead for the service to receive a multi-billion pound funding boost.

The Chancellor has promised to increase spending by £10bn in real terms by 2020 with a quick cash injection of £3.8bn for 2016-17.

Mr Osborne, who will unveil full details of the plan during his Autumn Statement on Wednesday, said the new deal would be the NHS's largest ever cash commitment.

"We will deliver £6bn a year extra investment straight away, as those in charge of the NHS have requested," he said.

"This means I am providing the health department with a half a trillion pound settlement - the biggest ever commitment to the NHS since its creation.

"This will mean world-class treatment for millions more patients, deliver a truly seven-day health service and allow the NHS to implement its five-year plan to transform the services patients receive."

The commitment is part of a reform plan set out by NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens.

It was thought Mr Osborne would resist calls from Mr Stevens for the funding to be front-loaded, but the Chancellor's pledge to bring £3.8bn on-stream next year will provide immediate relief for struggling front line services.

Mr Stevens said: "This settlement is a clear and highly welcome acceptance of our argument for front-loaded NHS investment.

"It will help stabilise current pressures on hospitals, GPs, and mental health services. In the context of constraints on overall public spending, our case for the NHS has been heard and actively supported."

The Government has also pledged that by 2020 everyone in England will be able to access GP services in the evenings and at weekends and all key hospital services are due to operate seven days a week.

Anita Charlesworth, chief economist at the Health Foundation, said: "Make no mistake, the NHS is in the midst of an unprecedented financial crisis.

"To stop this decline the health service needs the pledged budget increases to arrive sooner rather than later and the Government's confirmation of front-loaded funding is therefore welcome."