Health Secretary Wes Streeting says NHS is 'not just on its knees, it's on its face' ahead of Budget

Speaking to GB News, the cabinet secretary said that while Chancellor Rachel Reeves is prioritising the NHS in her upcoming budget, it won’t take one budget to turn around the under-pressure health service. He said: “There’s no beating about the bush about it – whether it’s the size of the waiting list, the fact that people can’t guarantee an ambulance turns up on time, the struggle to get a GP appointment or a dentist, the waits in A&E, the NHS is not just on its knees, it’s on its face.”

Streeting said that the upcoming budget, due to be announced on Wednesday, will allow for the NHS to increase the number of scanners and begin to cut heavy waiting lists. Billions of pounds are expected to be pumped into the health service, with £1.5 billion for new surgical hubs and scanners and £70 million for radiotherapy machines.

The Health Secretary said: “I think people are realistic. They know that we’re not going to turn the NHS around in just a few months or in a single budget.

“It’s going to take time and that’s why the Chancellor is prioritising the NHS in her Budget. We are linking that investment also to reform, because everything I said in opposition about waste and inefficiency in the NHS, the need to improve productivity, and we can’t keep on pouring more money in without reform – all of those things stand.”

He added: “Whether it’s health tourism, whether it’s the right staff in the right place, waste, inefficiency, bureaucracy, beyond the Budget I’ll be setting out steps in the coming weeks to make sure that as well as the extra investment going in being linked to reform, we also take a long, hard look at where money is currently spent in the NHS.”