The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that NHS (National Health Service) in England will receive an extra £5.4 billion over the next six months to support its response to COVID-19 and help tackle COVID-19 waiting lists.

The funding will be leveraged towards immediate relief and support to NHS to manage the pressing needs of the pandemic. This includes an extra £1 billion to help tackle the COVID-19 backlog, £2.8 billion to cover related costs such as enhanced infection control measures to keep staff and patients safe from the virus, and £478 million to continue the hospital discharge program, freeing up beds.

New injection of multi-billion-pound funding brings the UK Government’s total investment to health services for COVID-19 so far this year to over £34 billion, with £2 billion in total for the NHS to tackle the elective backlog.

The funding announcement has come shortly after a letter was sent to UK Government ministers and health leaders from organizations, such as the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers. DHSC has pledged that the NHS will get what it needs to recover its usual services and deliver quality care to patients.