MONDAY 5 AUGUST 2019Johnson’s £1.8bn NHS boost ‘a
drop in the ocean’
PM said investment was possible thanks to strong economic performance (EPA)
BENJAMIN KENTISH
Boris Johnson has been told that his £1.8bn cash boost for the NHS is merely “a drop in the ocean”.
The prime minister will announce the additional funding during a visit to a hospital in Lincolnshire today
and pledge to make it available immediately for upgrading hospitals and investing in more beds and new
equipment.
Mr Johnson will say that £850m of the investment will be spent on upgrading 20 hospitals across the
country. It will go to five hospitals in the north west, four in the east of England, four in the Midlands and
three in the north east and Yorkshire region. Two hospitals in London, and one each in the south east and
south west, will also benefit. But experts warned that the funding was only a fraction of what was needed.
Ahead of the visit, Mr Johnson said: “The NHS is always there for us – free at the point of use for everyone