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Osborne promises biggest spending program since creation of NHS

Xinhua, November 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's National Health Service (NHS) on Tuesday was given an injection of extra funding worth more than 15 billion U.S. dollars per year above inflation by 2020.

The money has been guaranteed as part of a Five Year Forward View announced by the government.

Full details will be outlined Wednesday in Chancellor George Osborne's spending review.

Osborne said he would deliver 6 billion pounds (9 billion U.S. dollars) a year of extra investment straight away as the NHS has requested.

"This means I am providing the health department with a half a trillion pound settlement -- the biggest ever commitment to the NHS since its creation. This will mean world-class treatment for millions more patients," he commented.

Government officials say the new additional funding will allow the NHS to offer 800,000 more operations and treatments, 2 million more diagnostic tests, 5.5 million more outpatient appointments and spend up to 3 billion U.S. dollars more on new drugs and medicines.

"As the NHS faces growing demands from an ageing population, it will also allow the development of better out of hospital services that will see more people treated closer to home, give patients greater control over their own care, and help prevent people getting seriously ill in the first place," said a Department of Health statement.

The statement added the additional investment will deliver a seven-day health service, with services offered in hospitals at the weekend and patients being able to access a family doctor -- known as GPs -- during evenings and weekends.

Osborne is to tell MPs in the House of Commons: "By 2020, everyone will be able to access GP services in the evenings and at weekends. This will mean 5,000 extra doctors working in general practice, with 750 million pounds of investment."

An extra 450 million U. S. dollars will be spent on cancer diagnostics every year by 2020-2021, so anyone with suspected cancer will be diagnosed within a maximum of 28 days of being referred by a GP, which experts say could help save 11,000 lives a year.

The Five Year Forward View also involves 33 billion U.S. dollars worth of efficiency savings with better procurement, better use of NHS resources and reducing avoidable hospital attendances. The savings will be reinvested in front line services.

British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "For doctors and nurses working harder than ever on the frontline, this upfront investment means we can implement the NHS's own ambitious plan to transform services for the future." Enditem