The NHS in England will be given an extra ￡5.4bn over the next six months to respond to the fallout from Covid-19 and tackle the country’s large patient waiting list, the government has announced.

       The Department of Health and Social Care said that ￡1bn of the funding will be used to help clear the backlog caused by the pandemic, with more than five million people waiting for hospital treatment in England.

       Some ￡2.8bn will be allocated towards improving infection control in hospitals, helping to keep patients and staff better protected against the virus, while a further ￡478 million will be spent discharging patients in order to free up more beds.

       Prime minister Boris Johnson said the money would go “straight to the frontline” and provide treatments people “aren’t getting quickly enough”.

       “The NHS was there for us during the pandemic - but treading Covid patients has created huge backlogs,” he said. “We will continue to make sure our NHS has what it needs to bust the Covid backlogs and help the health service build back better from the worst pandemic in a century.”

       The government said the waiting list for routine operations such as hip replacements and cataract surgery could reach 13 million, and that people coming forward for treatment they delayed during the pandemic was expected to make the situation worse before it improved.

       Some ￡500 million of the funding announced on Monday was due to go towards opening extra theatre capacity and utilising new technology to increase the number of surgeries that can take place.

       The funding is for England only, with devolved nations being allocated an extra ￡1 billion.

       Health secretary Sajid Javid said: “We know waiting lists will get worse before they get better as people come forward for help, and I want to reassure you the NHS is open, and we are doing what we can to support the NHS to deliver routine operations and treatment to patients across the country”.

       The new funding comes days after two major organisations warned that the NHS needed a boost of around ￡10bn to prevent crucial services from being cut.

       In a joint report, NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation revealed that some ￡4.6bn would be needed to cover the costs linked to the Covid crisis, while between ￡3.5bn and ￡4.5bn would be required to tackle waiting lists for operations and other medical procedures.

       The report was based on a survey of England’s 213 hospital, mental health, community and ambulance trusts, which, when combined, spend nearly two-thirds of the NHS budget.