NHS spending rises £10.6bn over four years

According to the report on the comprehensive spending review, published on 20 October 2010, English NHS spending will rise from £103.8bn in the current financial year to £114.4bn in 2014-15, an increase of 10.2% over the period. Spending will increase in each year of the Parliament, although this only amounts to 0.4% in real terms. However, most departments will make cuts of an average of 19% over this period. However, the capital spending included within these figures will fall, from £5.1bn this year to £4.4bn for the following three years, although it will then recover slightly to £4.6bn in 2014-15. "To govern is to choose, and we have chosen the National Health Service," said Osborne in his comprehensive spending review speech to Parliament on 20 October 2010. But he added that NHS productivity has fallen over the last few years: "That must not continue." The £20bn of planned productivity gains will be used to help pay for higher healthcare costs through longer lifespans and higher drug costs, as well as spending on health research and expanding access to mental health services. A new cancer dugs fund of £200m annually was confirmed in the report. However, some schemes promised by the last government will be scrapped. These include free prescriptions for people with long term conditions, a right to one-to-one nursing for cancer patients and a one week target for cancer diagnostics. Hospital schemes including St Helier, Royal Oldham and West Cumberland will be funded, the chancellor added. He said that the government wants to see closer links between the health service and social care. From next year, it is providing an average of an extra £1bn to the NHS for social care functions, as part of £2bn of additional money for social care, and will fund new approaches to reablement services. The government plans to cut NHS administration costs from £5.1bn this financial year to £3.7bn by 2013-14, then holding at that level for the year after. To contribute to this, the report said it will increase the portability of Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks by increasing electronic access for employers – and will start by cutting the number of CRB checks for junior doctors, saving £1m annually. Furthermore, primary care trusts will no longer have to deliver hard copies of a guide to local NHS services to every household in their areas. The government will also provide extra funds to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to allow similar increases in health spending in the devolved nations.