Published 28 October 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2259
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2259

Feature

Health Economics

The credit crisis and health care

¹ King’s Fund, London W1G 0AN

With the current financial turmoil affecting the cash flow of governments, business, and individuals, John Appleby assesses the likely effect on the NHS

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

It is hard to resist apocalyptic phrases (indeed, the use of the word apocalyptic) in describing the effect of the credit crunch on the world’s banking and financial systems over the past year. But it is not just the somewhat unreal and mystifying world of credit default swaps, naked short selling, and eyewatering bonuses that has been affected. As has become much clearer in the past few months the scale of the seizure in wholesale credit markets is such that the effects are being felt in the real world.

As the government commits potentially hundreds of billions of pounds to supporting banks and guaranteeing depositors over the next few years, borrowing huge amounts in the process and pushing national debt to over half the UK’s gross domestic product, it is hard not to foresee some effect on public services. What, then, might be the immediate and longer term prospects for . . . [Full text of this article]

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