NHS: Finance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of how much the NHS budget will need to grow to keep pace with patient need, drug prices, inflation and private finance debt in each of the next five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The financial pressures and the cost of new commitments for the National Health Service are analysed as part of the Spending Review process. The outcome of the most recent Spending Review is given in the policy paper Spending Review 2025, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html
As set out in the document, this level of funding growth will support the NHS to deliver on the Government's priorities, including delivery of the Government’s Plan for Change commitment, meaning that by the end of this Parliament, 92% of patients will start consultant led treatment for nonurgent conditions within 18 weeks of referral.
At the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government protected the NHS envelope announced at the 2025 Spending Review. This will see the NHS in England receive an over £15 billion real terms increase in annual resource budgets by the end of the period, between 2025/26 and 2028/29.
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