A think-tank report said that 'a radical new approach to the state-citizen relationship' was the only way to avoid state insolvency in the near future. Unless people were willing to re-evaluate their expectations of what the state should provide, a crisis point would be reached. The report identified healthcare as a key area where 'huge savings' could be made without compromising the quality or provision of health services.
Source: Miles Saltiel, On Borrowed Time: Avoiding fiscal catastrophe by transforming the state's intergenerational responsibilities, Adam Smith Institute
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Dec
An audit report said that National Health Service trusts could make savings through cutting staffing costs, increasing day surgery, and reducing emergency admissions. But wider changes would be needed if the NHS were to save £15-20 billion by 2014.
Source: More for Less 2009/10: Are efficiency and productivity improving in the NHS?, Audit Commission
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that health and social care services would need to make efficiency gains on an 'unprecedented scale' if levels of service were to be maintained and improved. Local councils had not been provided with the necessary resources to sustain existing eligibility levels for social care, and would need to sustain further efficiency savings of up to 3.5 per cent per annum in order to do so: but the government had not provided a 'clear enough narrative' on its vision of how these savings were to be made.
Source: Public Expenditure, Second Report (Session 2010-11), HC 512, House of Commons Health Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | ADASS press release | Kings Fund press release | LGA press release | NHS Confederation press release | Patients Association press release | 2020Health press release | Unite press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Morning Star report
Date: 2010-Dec
A briefing paper examined the systems in existence within the National Health Service for allocating resources to different units and services.
Source: Health Resource Allocation, National Audit Office
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
The coalition government announced (in its 2010 Spending Review) that overall National Health Service spending in England would increase by 0.4 per cent annually in real terms over the following four years, meaning that the NHS budget would grow from £103.8 billion to £114.4 billion in cash terms by the end of 2015. The capital element of the spending plans would be cut by 17 per cent. An extra £1 billion per year (by the end of the period) would be spent to help social care services that overlapped with NHS services, such as rehabilitation care after discharge from hospital.
Source: Spending Review 2010, Cm 7942, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | DH press release | Letter to NHS chief executives | HOC research brief | BMA press release | Kings Fund press release | MHF press release | Mind press release | NHS Confederation press release | Patients Association press release | PwC press release | RCPsych press release | Rethink press release | YoungMinds press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Oct
An audit report said that financial performance across the National Health Service in England had been 'mostly encouraging' over the financial year 2009-10. An overall surplus of £1.5 billion had been recorded by NHS trusts, primary care trusts, and strategic health authorities.
Source: Auditors' Local Evaluation and Use of Resources: Scores 2009/10, Audit Commission
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release | NHS Confederation press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report set out a £12 billion programme of health service cuts – including cutting staff pay, scrapping NHS Direct, a radical overhaul of the National Health Service information technology plan, and withdrawing homeopathy on the NHS.
Source: Julia Manning, Emma Hill and Gail Beer, Cutting the Costs Without Cancelling the Services: How to save £12bn in a year, 2020health
Links: Report | Pulse report
Date: 2010-Jun
A report examined the financial challenge facing the National Health Service, and some options for dealing with it. It looked at initiatives such as moving care closer to home, improving the management of long-term conditions, reducing variation in clinical practice, and strategic mergers. It also set out some of the myths and misconceptions associated with cost savings.
Source: Dealing with the Downturn: Using the evidence, NHS Confederation
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A report presented estimates of expenditure on healthcare in the United Kingdom that were consistent with international definitions. Expenditure on healthcare in the UK was estimated at 8.7 per cent of national income in 2008. The weighted average for European Union member states was 9.6 per cent in 2006 (last year available).
Source: Joseph Haynes, Expenditure on Healthcare in the UK, UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity/Office for National Statistics
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper said that healthcare spending had increased by nearly 7 per cent per year in real terms in the previous decade – the largest ever sustained increase in the history of the National Health Service. Clinical performance and patient satisfaction had increased substantially, and waiting times had dropped significantly, since Labour had been in power. But the NHS still lagged behind other European countries on several quality indicators and in particular on cancer mortality.
Source: Zack Cooper and Alistair McGuire, Health: Higher Spending Has Improved Quality, But Productivity Must Increase, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank report said that the existing funding formula for primary care trusts in England 'could not be defended on any rational grounds'. Due to lack of evidence, it was not technically possible to determine the cost of reducing health inequalities between PCTs.
Source: Mervyn Stone, Formulas at War Over Two Sorts of Inequality in Health Funding, Civitas
Links: Report | Civitas press release
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank report examined the National Health Service in a period of tight funding. It recommended that 'bold decisions' should be made with regards to improving productivity and efficiency, and the cash savings that could be achieved by taking fixed costs out of the NHS.
Source: Henry Featherstone and Natalie Evans, The NHS in a Period of Tight Funding, Policy Exchange
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jan
