The NHS in England and Wales has been given a 4% a year funding rise for the next three years, with an overall budget rise from £90bn this year to £110bn in 2010.

Announcing the comprehensive spending review, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, said that the cash would fund 20 new hospitals, 140 walk-in centres open seven days a week, and 100 new GP practices.

However, the funding is much less than the 7.2% that the NHS has had each year since 2002 and below the 4.4% recommended by Derek Wanless in his review of the future of the NHS published in …