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Funding Health Care: 2008 and beyond
Author:
John Appleby
Date: February 2007
Price: £10.00
Download in full (1611kb)
Author:John Appleby
Date: February 2007
Price: £10.00
Download in full (1611kb)
NHS finances
Spending on the NHS in England has doubled since 1997 to more than £76 billion. After recording one of the biggest overspends in its history during the 2005/6 financial year, with a £547 million net deficit, in 2006/7 the NHS delivered a net surplus of more than £500 million – its largest ever recorded surplus.
Despite this turnaround, the gross NHS financial deficit figure remained high at £911 million, although this was an improvement on the figure of £1.312 billion in 2005/6.
The underlying causes of the gross deficit were many, but crucially, while spending increased in real terms by 7.4 per cent on average, cost pressures increased too. For example, around a third of the extra cash for the NHS in 2006/7 was spent on extra pay. The overall net surplus figure masked several persistent and underlying deficits in many local areas of the NHS.
The challenge in the long term will be to ensure that the NHS spends within its means and continues to improve services. At the same time, the NHS faces continuing challenges to reduce waiting times and meet other centrally set targets, while the the days of massive growth in funding come to an end in 2008.
Our resources on NHS deficits are collated here, along with links to resources from the Department of Health and other organisations. We will update this page as new resources become available.
Despite this turnaround, the gross NHS financial deficit figure remained high at £911 million, although this was an improvement on the figure of £1.312 billion in 2005/6.
The underlying causes of the gross deficit were many, but crucially, while spending increased in real terms by 7.4 per cent on average, cost pressures increased too. For example, around a third of the extra cash for the NHS in 2006/7 was spent on extra pay. The overall net surplus figure masked several persistent and underlying deficits in many local areas of the NHS.
The challenge in the long term will be to ensure that the NHS spends within its means and continues to improve services. At the same time, the NHS faces continuing challenges to reduce waiting times and meet other centrally set targets, while the the days of massive growth in funding come to an end in 2008.
Our resources on NHS deficits are collated here, along with links to resources from the Department of Health and other organisations. We will update this page as new resources become available.
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