Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced a further £6.6 billion of funding for NHS trusts for the first half of this coming financial year.

This money is in addition to the £3 billion committed at the Spending Review last November to help the NHS meet the additional costs of coronavirus, while critically starting the work on the elective recovery ahead.

The Department of Health and Social Care says that, due to the pandemic, the waiting list for elective treatment in January was almost 4.6 million, and 304,000 people are waiting more than a year for an operation or diagnostic. Speaking in the Commons, Hancock said that this backlog of elective work is an 'inevitable consequence of the pandemic'.

As well as the £6.6 billion, the government is also putting £594 million towards safe hospital discharge and is extending enhanced discharge arrangements for mental health patients, getting patients safely from hospital into healthy community settings, providing better care and freeing up thousands of beds.