The call followed last week's announcement of £750m for urgent repairs which NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor described as a ‘small down payment on the £14bn maintenance backlog'.

Rory Deighton, acute director, said leaders had told the NHS Confederation capital investment was a ‘top priority and crucial for improving NHS performance, boosting productivity and reducing hospital waiting lists'.

The NHS Confed director also urged the Government to address recent cuts in public health, social care and housing which have added to pressures on healthcare.

His comments came after Bee Boileau, research economist at IFS and an author of a new report, warned: ‘At the Spending Review, the Government faces some unavoidably tough choices, particularly as after turning on the spending taps last autumn, the flow of additional funding is now set to slow to more of a trickle.'

The IFS said increasing health funding at anything like the historical average rate would mean imposing real-terms cuts on other ‘unprotected' departments to stay within the overall spending envelope.

On the other hand, a lower rise in healthcare spending could impact the Government's ambitions on waiting times, service performance and the NHS workforce plan.