DOUBLING CASH FOR NHS ‘HAD NO IMPACT’ – Billions more pumped into service with little to show for life expectancy levels
Spending on the NHS has doubled over nearly two decades while having ‘no impact’ on Britain’s health, a former Government minister claimed today.
Lord Bethell, a Conservative health minister under Boris Johnson, said billions of pounds were being wasted, presenting ‘a social, moral and economic disaster’.
The peer, who served from 2020 to 2021, said NHS spending had risen from about £100billion to £200billion in the past 17 years, but he explained , that the higher expenditure has had ‘no impact’ on the country’s health – with many seeing outcomes worsen as life expectancy flatlines.
‘So why has that happened?’, he asked, because he said, if you have no measurement or target or mission or vision around actually improving the underlying health.’, then you get no result. Lord Bethel continued, adding, ‘We’re putting the financial future of our nation in jeopardy. Our children are not going to be able to afford the schools and hospitals that they deserve.’
Currently in the UK, life expectancy at birth currently stands at 79 for men and 83 for women – roughly in line with the levels seen in 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics.
