NHS receives £300m extra funding to prepare for winter months

Extra funding for the NHS has been announced by the Department of Health in a bid to relieve added pressures faced by health services over the coming winter months.

The £300m of extra provision will increase current funds to £700m and will be used to fund more clinical staff for A&E services and offer resilience schemes to prevent people from unnecessary hospitalisation.

Initial funding had been planned and allocated across the NHS since June but the new boost has the potential to fund a further 1,000 extra doctors and 2,000 extra nurses. There will also be funds for 2,500 extra beds in acute hospitals and in the community.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “The NHS is under unprecedented demand, with a million more visits to A&E each year compared to 2010 and 2,000 extra ambulance journeys a day. Our hardworking doctors and nurses continue to see the vast majority of patients quickly and treat them compassionately.

“But we know the cold weather can bring added pressure so, as in previous years, we’ve given the NHS extra resources to make sure it is better prepared than ever before, with robust local plans in place from June which address the need to plan for year round demands. We are boosting frontline services and expect the NHS to ensure strong performance is delivered locally.”

The current A&E target is to see 95 per cent of patients within a four hour waiting time, but figures reveal the average score has fallen to 94.8 per cent and 94 per cent in recent weeks. It is hoped more support for people outside of A&E and increased staff levels will help hospitals cope with the rise in demand over the cold winter period.

The Government launched a campaign last month encouraging people to use the full range of NHS services to avoid overcrowding in A&E and at GPs. The campaign ‘feeling under the weather’ encourages older people to visit their local pharmacist for advice on respiratory conditions instead of going straight to their GP.

Social care services have also had a bigger role in planning this year, working to improve links between hospitals, GPs and local councils.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: “As part of our drive for a stronger economy, the government is now calling on all hospitals and local commissioners to continue to work together to ensure that proper planning includes good financial management, which is crucial to ensuring high quality patient care A&E service.”

However chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Mark Porter, said the extra funding was not enough to address growing pressures faced by the NHS.

He told the BBC: "It masks the fact that a funding gap of £30bn is opening up in the NHS, and does not go far enough to address the underlying reasons why the system is under such extreme pressure. "If the NHS is to stop lurching from one crisis to another it needs a long-term plan rather than a short-term fix."