UK health spending over past decade lags Europe by £40bn a year
The UK has spent around 20 per cent less per person on health each year than similar European countries over the past decade, according to new research that shows how the NHS has been consistently starved of funding.
The data from the Health Foundation, which was shared with the Financial Times, found that health spending in the UK would have needed to rise by an average of £40bn per year in the past decade to match per capita health spending across 14 EU countries.
It comes as the government prepares to reveal its spending plans in Thursday’s Autumn Statement and casts fresh light on how a decade of austerity has affected the NHS, which is foundering as it braces for its hardest ever winter.
Last month the NHS’s finance chief warned the service was facing a £7bn black hole next year, in part due to the impact of inflation, which is eating into hard-won funding settlements.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Sarah Neville
