The Prime Minister has unveiled a multi-billion-pound NHS funding package intended to reduce record elective treatment backlogs, combining infrastructure improvements with more evening and weekend GP appointments and artificial intelligence diagnostic tools.

The plans include deploying the diagnostic technology across hospital trusts in England and Wales. Alongside the infrastructure overhaul, the expansion of GP appointments is intended to widen access to primary care beyond conventional surgery hours.

The package addresses two distinct pressures: access to general practice and the backlog of patients awaiting planned hospital treatment. It sets out investment and service changes aimed at tackling both; the announcement does not establish how quickly those measures will translate into shorter waiting lists.