The NHS in a nutshell

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The NHS budget and how it has changed

The total budget for the Department of Health and Social Care in England and how it has changed since 2007/08.

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How the NHS is funded

The NHS is mainly funded from general taxation and National Insurance contributions.

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Health inequalities in a nutshell

Health inequalities are avoidable, unfair and systematic differences in health between different groups of people. Here we examine the key data on this complex and wide-ranging issue.

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Waiting times for elective (non-urgent) treatment: referral to treatment (RTT)

Waiting times consistently rank as one of the public’s main concerns with the NHS. Here we explore how long patients are waiting for treatment and what impact Covid-19 has had on the numbers.

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Accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times

Accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times are one of the most high-profile indicators of how hospitals are performing. How is A&E performance measured and what influences how long people wait?

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NHS workforce

We know the NHS is facing a workforce crisis, but how many people work in the NHS in England, and what do they do?

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Activity in the NHS

Over the past 10 years, it has often been stated that the NHS treats more than a million people every 36 hours, but is that still true? We analyse NHS activity pre-Covid-19 and explore some of the underlying trends that lie behind these headline statistics.

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The number of hospital beds

Over the past three decades the number of hospital beds has been declining in England. This is a result of medical advances and a shift in policy towards providing treatment and care outside hospital.

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NHS trusts in deficit

As part of the new five-year funding deal announced for the NHS in 2018, national NHS bodies have said that no trusts should be in deficit by 2023/24. Have they met the target?

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Spending on public health

Public health services are critical for preventing disease, reducing health inequalities and improving the population’s health, for example, through helping people to quit smoking or supporting efforts to improve air quality. 

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International recruitment in adult social care

The social care sector would struggle to function without its international workforce. Immigration policy, particularly after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, should be designed with the social care sector in mind.

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International recruitment in the NHS

The NHS would not be able to function without its international workforce, who account for 1 in every 8 people who work in the health service.