NHS changes in England are likely to cost more than £1.5bn

Implementing the Health and Social Care Act in England is likely to cost between £1.5bn (€1.8bn; 2.4bn) and £1.6bn, £300m more than originally estimated, the health secretary has said.

Last September the government estimated in its impact assessment that the costs of changes to the NHS imposed by the act would most likely cost between £1.2bn and £1.3bn.

In a written ministerial statement health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that the current …