Government outlines new NHS investment plans

The government has announced a new package of NHS funding commitments as part of its annual Spending Review.

Under the new plans, the NHS will receive an additional ten billion pounds a year above inflation by 2020, with almost six billion pounds of this total coming during the first year.

This is estimated to allow the NHS to offer 800,000 more operations and treatments, two million more diagnostic tests, 5.5 million more outpatient appointments and spend up to two billion pounds more on new drugs.

Key goals for this funding include the delivery of access to GP services in the evenings and at weekends by 2020, as well as seven-day coverage for all key hospital services, plus a shift in focus towards delivering care closer to patients' homes.

Selling surplus estates will generate a further two billion for reinvestment in the health service, releasing land for 26,000 new homes, while efficiency saving efforts will continue.

Chancellor George Osborne said: "This will mean world-class treatment for millions more patients, delivering a truly seven-day health service and allowing the NHS to implement its five-year plan to transform the services patients receive."