The Prime Minister and Chancellor visit Coventry Hospital
Posted on by Wais Alizai

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced yesterday a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day health budget, and a £31 billion increase in the capital budget aimed at reducing the NHS waiting lists and increasing its capacity.

Meanwhile, Reeves has said a 10-year plan for the NHS will be announced in the spring, according to Sky News. The announcement has been largely welcomed on social media platforms, in particular X, previously known as Twitter.

X users have hailed the funding increase to cut waiting lists, while others highlighted the importance of paying more attention to health workers.

Many users felt that the budget targeted richer people, who they said should be paying more tax anyway.

As well as defending the budget from criticism, others welcomed in particular the increase in NHS spending. 

However, a number of health workers said that the increase in the NHS budget will not actually help the health sector, and especially its staff.

Doctors In Distress said they would be participating in an upcoming NHS consultation to demand that the mental health of NHS staff be prioritised.

Not everybody was quite as happy about the budget, with employers and farmers in particular saying it would cost them money. The chief economist of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also projected that the budget would still leave the average person worse off by 2029.

It is hard for many to know how the budget will affect them until the end of the tax year, but those who expected increased spending on public services and taxes on the rich are certainly happier with the outcome than employers and people with significant assets.