Boris Johnson’s £1.8bn NHS cash boost 'a drop in the ocean', health experts warn

Boris Johnson has been told that his £1.8bn cash boost for the NHS is merely “a drop in the ocean”.

The prime minister will announce the additional funding during a visit to a hospital in Lincolnshire on Monday and pledge to make it available immediately for upgrading hospitals and investing in more beds and new equipment.

Mr Johnson will say that £850m of the investment will be spent on upgrading 20 hospitals across the country.

It will go to five hospitals in the north west, four in the east of England, four in the Midlands and three in the north east and Yorkshire region. Two hospitals in London, and one each in the south east and south west, will also benefit.

But experts warned that the funding was only a fraction of what was needed.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Johnson said: “The NHS is always there for us – free at the point of use for everyone in the country.

“With our doctors and nurses working tirelessly day in day out, this treasured institution truly showcases the very best of Britain.

“That’s why I made it my immediate task to make sure frontline services have the funding they need, to make a real difference to the lives of NHS staff, and above all, of patients.

“Today I’m delivering on this promise with a £1.8bn cash injection – meaning more beds, new wards, and extra life-saving equipment to ensure patients continue to receive world-class care.

“It’s time to face up to this challenge and make sure the NHS receives the funds it needs, to continue being the best healthcare service in the world.”

The additional funding is on top of the £33.9bn per year increase, in cash terms, that the NHS will receive by 2023-24 under plans announced by Theresa May.

But experts said the money was only a tiny proportion of what was needed to upgrade dilapidated hospitals across the country.

Ben Gershlick, of the Health Foundation charity, said: “The government’s expected announcement of a £1.8bn short-term funding boost for upgrades to 20 hospitals and NHS capital infrastructure projects is welcome.

“But while the prime minister might be looking forward to cutting the ribbon at a new hospital ward, years of underinvestment in the NHS’s infrastructure means this extra money risks being little more than a drop in the ocean.

“Many hospitals, GP surgeries, and community and mental health facilities across England are in major disrepair with the maintenance backlog in trusts alone now totalling over £6bn.”

A further £4bn a year was needed just to bring England in line with the average capital spending on healthcare for developed nations, he said.

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of health think-tank The Nuffield Trust, said the funding was a fraction of what it would cost to really upgrade 20 hospitals.

“Nobody should expect shiny new hospitals in their towns any time soon,” he said.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, also appeared to suggest that more money was needed, calling the £1.8bn cash injection a significant start to much needed capital investment.

Labour, meanwhile, claimed that the Conservatives had already announced 145 schemes promising NHS upgrades but that only a fraction of the money had been delivered.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “Tory ministers have cut over £4bn from NHS investment budgets with continued smash and grab raids, resulting in crumbling hospitals, faulty equipment, sub-standard mental health facilities and the cancellation of cancer diagnosis appointments.

“When our health services continue to be cut and the NHS struggles with a shortage of 100,000 staff, this announcement falls significantly short of what’s needed to provide patients with the quality, safe care they deserve. The Tories can’t be trusted with our NHS.”

Mr Ashworth had earlier warned that the funding would pale in comparison to the “catastrophe” that would hit the NHS if Mr Johnson followed through with his threat to deliver a no-deal Brexit.

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I think to push us out of the European Union at the end of October, beginning of November, on a no-deal basis as we are going into winter, which is always a difficult time for the NHS, is the height of irresponsibility when we know a no-deal Brexit will be disastrous for the NHS.

“It will put lives at risk. That is the gamble that Boris Johnson is taking this October, November. He’s playing with people’s lives.”

It is unclear where the additional funding for the NHS will come from.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Johnson said the investment was possible “thanks to this country’s strong economic performance”.

He said he was “determined to deliver now on the promises of that 2016 referendum campaign“, during which he famously promised that the NHS would receive £350m more a week after Brexit.