Web-economic-crisis-health-systems-and-health-web

United Kingdom
England: John Appleby and Seán Boyle
Northern Ireland: Pat McGregor and Ciaran O'Neill
Scotland: Shelley Farrar and David Steel
Wales: Marcus Longley and Ceri Philips
There are differences between the countries of the United Kingdom in terms of
some health policies and these are covered separately when relevant.
Economic trends
• Real per capita GDP in the United Kingdom contracted in 2009 by
4.6%; growth was below average in 2010 and 2011. The budget deficit
increased sharply in 2009 to 11.4% of GDP; the deficit was smaller in
2010 and 2011 as government spending as a share of GDP declined.
• Unemployment increased between 2008 and 2011 but is still below the
European mean.
• Ten-year bond rates declined from 2008 to 2011.
• Health spending as a share of government expenditure has been stable
despite reductions in the size of government expenditure. This has meant
a slowdown in public per capita growth in 2010 and negative growth in
2011 of 3.9% (United Kingdom: Fig. 1).
• United Kingdom Fig 2 gives the overall trends in per capita spending
on health.
Policy responses
Changes to public funding for the health system
England
• The Department of Health's 2010 Spending Round settlement for the
NHS provided an average 0.1% real-term increase per annum over
the four years to 2014–2015 and a requirement to find productivity
improvements to the value of around £5 billion a year to 2014–2015 to
meet increased demand and improve service quality (2010).
• However, the government required the NHS to underspend against
budget, leading to a surplus of £1.9 billion in 2010–2011 and
£2.1 billion in 2011–2012 (around 2% of NHS revenue).
• NHS spending in real terms (at 2010–2011 prices) fell slightly from
2009–2010 to 2010–2011 and is forecast to increase slightly by
2014–2015.