Spending boost will depend on public involvement
Government plans to boost NHS spending by 7.2 per cent above inflation for the next three years are dependent on the public taking an active role in preventing ill health, health economists have warned.
The spending plans, announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown
last week, also rely on an anticipated 2.5 per cent improvement in NHS
productivity.
But independent health economists at the Office
of Health Economics in
their new publication, “How much should we be spending on the NHS?”,
question how reliable the predictions are. They point out that the spending
plans and economic forecast
reflect the government-commissioned report by Derek Wanless, “Securing
our future health: taking a long-term view”, which was published
in April 2002.
The OHE wants to see public access to the economic models these assumptions
were based on so that an open assessment can be made about how far the
targets are being met.
Meanwhile, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has
welcomed the Chancellor’s commitment to increase funding for science
from £3.9bn to £5bn by 2008 and its decision to recruit more
science teachers.
The ABPI director of science and technology Philip Wright said: “The
extra money from the Government will go a long way to enabling the UK
to retain its world-leading position in the field of science and pharmaceuticals.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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