NHS cash boost has been inflated

BMJ 1998;317:1103 ( 24 October )

News

NHS cash boost has been inflated

John Warden, parliamentary correspondent, BMJ

The Department of Health has clarified the key figures for NHS spending in England which were announced as part of the government's comprehensive spending review three months ago (25 July, p 231).

The official figures show an increase over a three year period of £17.7bn ($28.3bn) in England (£21bn for Britain). A memorandum from the Department of Health to the Commons health select committee spells out for the first time how this total was computed.

It states: "The total extra investment in NHS total net expenditure over the three year period is £17.7bn. In 1999-2000 the extra resources are £3074m, in 2000-01, £5908m and in 2001-02, £8672m, in each case compared to NHS total net planned expenditure in 1998-99."

This makes it clear, which was not explained in the July announcement, that the three year total is arrived at by using . . . [Full text of this article]

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