Gold for the NHS

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7344.987

BMJ 2002;324:987-988 ( 27 April )

Editorials

Gold for the NHS

Good news that raises questions on consistency and sustainability

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The chancellor's budget statement sets out plans for unprecedented rates of growth in NHS spending over the medium term. Respondingto the Wanless review team's challenge on the long term fundingneeds of the NHS,¹ the chancellor's special, five year settlementfor the NHS will mean an extra 7.4% real terms expenditure eachyear over the period 2003-4 to 2007-8. This will increase theNHS budget from £65bn ($94bn; 106bn) this year to £105bn afterfive years (allowing for inflation) and represent a rise in theshare of gross domestic product spent on health care from 7.7%to 9.4%. Some idea of the scale of these increases in expenditurecan be gauged from the fact that over the period 1954-2000 annualincreases in real expenditure on the NHS averaged 3.7%. If plansare realised, the next five years will double thisrate.