Health - Paying For It 2011

Health: £104bn

November 23rd, 2011

Spending on the National Health Service (NHS) includes the building and maintaining of hospitals, running doctors’ surgeries, buying medical supplies and conducting research. Costs are rising fast due to challenges such as an ageing population, obesity and the high cost of new treatments.

Reform NHS budget

Halting the building of new hospitals, charging for non-essential operations and cutting medical research can achieve larger savings and encourage greater efficiency.
Pros & Cons

PRO These savings should improve the long term efficiency of the NHS and the choice and quality it offers whilst helping reduce the deficit.

CON Healthcare cuts disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society and can result in a less healthy workforce which has negative implications for the economy.
Find efficiency savings in the NHS

Health spending has increased in the last decade while productivity has declined. Savings can be found through pay freezes on all except those on the lowest salaries and from increasing in the cost of prescriptions.

Pros & Cons

PRO Finding savings in the NHS will improve its long term efficiency whilst helping reduce the deficit.

CON An increase in the cost of prescriptions could discourage people from getting early treatment and lead to longer term costs. Pay freezes will also lower morale and make it harder to attract talent into the NHS.
Keep to the current level of health spending

Keep to the current level of health spending and account for the increasing costs of the NHS by reducing managerial and administrative roles and increasing commercial competition.
Pros & Cons

PRO These reforms will improve the long term efficiency of the NHS and more competition may improve overall quality.

CON A possible 20,000 redundancies over the next two years could add to already high unemployment numbers. There is also a potential risk of disruptions to services.
Increase spending to meet current health challenges

Increase spending on the NHS to ensure that quality and staffing are maintained to meet the current health challenges in the UK such as an increasingly ageing population.
Pros & Cons

PRO Stabilises the NHS to meet the health challenges facing the country and avoids redundancies amongst health professionals at a time of high unemployment.

CON Challenges such as an ageing population will always continue to grow. As a large area of public spending further funding will place a strain on the budgets of other public services.

Submit your own policy

Do you have a better idea for a policy? Submit it in the text field below. (You still have to select one of the above choices). All ideas will be compiled with the most popular getting published in the Youth Budget 2012.

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Health: £104bn

Reform NHS budget

Find efficiency savings in the NHS

Keep to the current level of health spending

Increase spending to meet current health challenges

Submit your own policy

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