Chancellor John Healey's Budget on Wednesday 28 October is expected to include £100 million for robotic-assisted procedures in the NHS, The Times has reported. The funding would support surgical care in areas including prostate, kidney and heart operations, with the number of robotic-assisted procedures forecast to rise from 70,000 a year to half a million by 2035.

What the reported funding would do

Robotic-assisted surgery uses mechanical arms controlled by a surgeon at a console, allowing smaller incisions than open surgery. Supporters say that can mean less blood loss, fewer complications and faster recovery, so patients can go home sooner. The Times report presents the £100 million as a productivity measure: more procedures done with robotic assistance, freeing capacity elsewhere in the NHS.

The same report says the Budget will also create a £285 million good growth fund for local leaders to spend, and design a new £1.5 billion borrowing facility for mayors from 2028. Prime Minister Andy Burnham was quoted as saying the aim was to end local leaders going cap in hand to Westminster for decisions that could be taken closer to home.

Reported, not yet confirmed

None of this is confirmed policy until the Budget is delivered on 28 October. The figures come from pre-Budget reporting, and the final allocations, conditions and timescales will only be known from the Chancellor's statement and the accompanying documents.

Readers should also not confuse the reported £100 million with a separate robotics programme announced on 9 October, under which eight Robotics Adoption Hubs were created with £40 million of funding, including a national surgical robotics hub in Newcastle. That earlier scheme is about advice, training and evaluation for trusts adopting robotics; the Budget item reported by The Times is presented as funding for procedures themselves.