THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN URGED BY THE BMA TO INCREASE HEALTH SPENDING BY 10 BILLION POUNDS
- 06 Mar
The government has been urged by the British Medical Association (BMA) to increase health spending by £10bn in order to bring funding at par with other European economies and shore up the NHS.
This increase in health spending to a proportion of GDP that matched that of the 10 leading economies across Europe could pay for at least 35,000 extra beds a day and many more GP's, according to the union of doctors.
This call for investment also comes at a time when the NHS is feeling the strain amid rising demand, staff shortages and pressure on its finances.
The Guardian stated the following findings:
- The service will seek to achieve £22bn in efficiency savings by 2020
- The health service in England is on its way to overspending by £1bn by the end of this financial year after running up a deficit of £2.45bn within the past year
- Recently, many patients have not been discharged because of the current constraints on social care, leading to lost bed days
According to BMA's analysis:
- The 10 leading economies across Europe spend an average of 10.4% of their GDP on health in comparison with the UK's 9.8%
- The UK's spending on health in 2015 should have been £10.3bn higher than it was
A Department of Health spokeswoman also said:
"We are committed to the NHS, which is why total health spending is above the OECD average as a percentage of GDP, and why we are investing £10bn in the NHS's own plan for the future, including almost £4bn this year.
"What's more, the NHS was ranked the best and most efficient healthcare system in the world by the independent Commonwealth Fund, showing that we make every bit of spending count."
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For more details, visit The Guardian.
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