Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled her spending review, promising £39 billion for social and affordable housing, an extension to free school meals and the £3 bus fare cap, and a 3 per cent spending increase for the NHS a year, after inflation.

This is the first multi-year spending review since 2021 and will set the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years.

Reeves announced that the government will be increasing real-terms, day-to-day spending by 3 per cent per year for the NHS for every year of this Spending Review. This means an extra £29bn per year for the day-to-day running of the health service, up to to £226bn by 2029.

It was also revealed that the NHS technology budget will increase by almost 50 per cent with £10bn of investment to "bring our analogue health system into the digital age.”

Elsewhere in technology, Reeves announced R&D funding of £22bn per year by the end of the Spending Review period.

Chief executive of NHS Providers, Daniel Elkeles said: “The NHS was front and centre in today’s spending round, underscoring its importance to the health of the nation and the economy.

“NHS trust leaders aren’t taking the additional funding for granted. Far from it.

“They know patients, taxpayers and ministers will rightly demand more bang for their buck from the NHS through shorter waiting times and better services.

“Trust leaders also know the NHS must work differently if it is to create a health service fit for the future.

“They’re up for the challenge. That’s why they back the three shifts from hospital to communities, sickness to prevention, and analogue to digital."