The government has announced that almost £1 billion of funding will be shared across 75 projects in a bid to improve and upgrade selected NHS services. The additional £963 million will be used to help treat more patients, enhance NHS facilities and improve integrated care services across UK communities.
The government has announced which 75 projects will benefit from the additional funding which includes projects that increase patient capacity as well as prevention methods to stop ill-health occurring in the first place. Some of the successful projects to receive a portion of the funding include an expansion of mental health services in Newcastle, Liverpool and Gateshead as well as a new emergency department in Walsall.
To try an improve NHS services across the whole of the country, £800 million of the funding will be spent outside of London.
The announcement of the funding comes as part of the long-term plan for the NHS which includes the biggest ever funding increase. In the plan, the NHS budget will increase by £20.5 billion every year until 2023/2024.
Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said of the announcement; “We want even more patients to receive world-class care in world-class NHS facilities and this near billion-pound boost – one of the most substantial capital funding commitments ever made – means that the NHS can do just that for years to come.”
Some of the other projects to receive funding include;
- Additional bed capacity at Princess Alexandra Hospital
- Expansion at Hinchingbrooke Hospital
- Stroke rehabilitation unit for NHS Bedfordshire
- Emergency department strategic development for West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- An integrated community hub at Bakewell
- Breast imaging improvement plan at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trusts
- Outwoods Health Village in Staffordshire
- 10-bed learning disabilities low secure unit in Oxford.
