To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to use the £5.9 billion NHS COVID recovery funding, announced at the Spending Review on 27 October 2021, to tackle the backlog in assessments for disabled children’s health services.
Answered on
18 November 2021
On 6 September 2021 we announced over £8 billion for the National Health Service to provide elective care that was delayed by the pandemic for the Spending Review period 2022/23 to 2024/25. We also announced an additional £5.4 billion to support the COVID-19 response over the next six months, bringing the total Government support for health services in response to COVID-19 to over £34 billion in 2021/22. This includes £2 billion to tackle the elective backlog and reduce waiting times for patients, including disabled children.