Capital funding needed to modernise the NHS estate

NHS leaders have made an impassioned plea for vital capital investment in the health service as negotiations on the comprehensive spending review reach their final, critical stage.

Trust leaders welcomed recent financial commitments by the government to invest an extra £5.4 billion in the NHS for the second half of this financial year, including £500 million of additional capital to support elective care this winter.

However, NHS Providers has argued that the remains a risk this funding will not deliver the desired improvements without a longer-term capital settlement for the service, which would provide crucial investment in areas such as the NHS estate, ambulances, and digital technology.

Beyond the earmarked £5.4 billion funding for hospital building and upgrades, the organisations says that the NHS needs wide ranging investment across its estates and facilities to tackle the alarming maintenance backlog and to respond to the record care backlog across acute, mental health and community services, and unprecedented pressure on urgent and emergency care.

NHS Providers is calling for annual real terms funding increases to the Department of Health and Social Care's capital budget – an extra £1.5 billion by 2024/25 as an absolute minimum – as part of a new capital settlement to ensure the NHS has the day-to-day funds it needs to transform services and improve access to care in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "The benefits of capital investment in the NHS are substantial. From fixing leaking roofs and broken boilers, to removing ligature points in mental health facilities and replacing outdated technology, capital investment has the potential to transform the NHS. With the right level of investment, the NHS could play an even bigger role in turning the government's ambitions for net zero and ‘levelling up’ from ambition to reality.

"Trust leaders know the NHS has received significant sums in recent weeks to help it deal with Covid-19 pandemic and to deliver services over the next three years. This funding is, of course, incredibly welcome at a time when the public purse strings are being tightened. But to deliver the benefits we all want, that investment must be underpinned by appropriate capital funding – a critical piece of the jigsaw – to help bring long neglected parts of the NHS estate into the 21st century.

"This must be alongside a multi-year capital settlement for the NHS. The NHS cannot go from year to year not knowing how much capital it is going to get. This is far from ideal for a service that needs to plan for the future so it can best meet a complex array of patients' needs. Protecting and enhancing patient care, supporting recovery from the pandemic and ensuring staff work in safe environments is a price worth paying. That's why we're calling for a strong capital settlement for the NHS in next month's CSR."