THE NHS will get another £6.6billion this year to cover the massive Covid costs it faces, Matt Hancock revealed yesterday.
The much-needed cash will go on vaccinating and testing as well as treating Brits who catch the killer bug.
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It will also be used to clear the spiralling backlog of operations which were delayed as hospitals battled coronavirus.
Panicked health bosses had warned that the Budget had failed to allocate any more money for battling the pandemic.
But addressing MPs yesterday, the Health Secretary said the Government has always coughed up the cash so the NHS can fight Covid “and we are backing them again today”.
He told the House of Commons: “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 Covid while critically starting to work on the elective recovery ahead.”
A staggering 4.6 million people are stuck on NHS waiting lists, he warned.
Of these, some 304,000 have been waiting over a year – up from just 1,600 before Covid struck Britain.
Experts have warned it could take years to clear the backlog of patients.
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