A new consensus is emerging about the cash put into the NHS. The old media view that the money was making things much better has faded rather suddenly.

Here is the new consensus, very concisely put in a front page special feature in The Independent:

Since 1997, NHS spending in the UK has doubled to £94bn this year. Consultants and GPs have had salary increases worth up to 50 per cent over three years, taking the average GP through the £100,000 barrier for the first time, making them the highest-paid doctors in the world outside the US. Nurses have had smaller but still substantial rises.

More than 190,000 extra frontline staff have joined the NHS since 1997. Health is a labour-intensive activity and well over half the extra billions invested - 56 per cent - has been spent on pay and pensions for staff. When the NHS Plan was launched six years ago there was plenty of money but a shortage of staff and capacity. Today, the capacity is there but there is a shortage of cash. Too much has been spent to deliver too little - NHS productivity has not risen in line with the resources. In the end, the NHS has ended up costing more but delivering less value for money.

Here is a link to the full article and others in the Independent's package.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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