On Thursday it was announced that an additional £200 million of funding would be given to the NHS to support its resilience over the challenging winter months.

The winter sees increased demand on the service, as seasonal illnesses such as flu, norovirus, colds and covid-19 peak. This will be particularly challenging this year as NHS England recently revealed that waiting lists of patients waiting to start treatment have hit a new high this summer of 7.68 million people.

NHS England waiting list hits record high as 7.6m on hold for routine treatment (Sky News)

Although £200 million sounds like a lot, the annual pre-allocated budget for the Department of Health & Social Care in 2023-24 is £188 billion! To learn more about how the NHS is funded and how the money flows from the government down, watch the first video below.

Whilst the second video is now 5 years old, the challenges to NHS funding explained within it still remain.