Finally... An NHS Budget Increase!!
Need a refresher on prescribing practice?
£200 million. Sounds like a big figure right? But when there are 42 integrated health boards throughout the country, each comprising of several districts, it doesn’t actually amount to much money.
The context? Public health. You see, for the past 10 years, the budget has reduced by 21% in real terms. This is while chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes etc), mental health (+ suicides), sexually transmitted diseases, substance misuse, obesity, elderly falls and perinatal diseases were on the rise. For those of you in primary care, think about your day to day patient problems.
To contextualise this further, over the past decade, there have been cuts (in real terms) of:
32% for sexual health services
25% to drug and alcohol services
25% to services that support 0-5 year olds, including health visitors.
I mean.. there used to be a time that any STI related issue would go to an STI clinic. My local clinic has closed so we’re organising the testing and swabs ourselves. Similarly, many issues related to maternal concerns would be handled by the health visitors. However, appointments are less frequent and many reviews are held over the phone due to issues with capacity.
We are truly feeling the impact of austerity, and I went into more detail on this in a previous newsletter. The Labour government has, this time, shifted the focus towards primary care, and more specifically, disease prevention, to help fight illness "on the ground." For the first time in a long while, there has been an uplift—3% in real terms.
Many NHS leaders have applauded the government for taking this step, but in the context of 10 years of austerity, we’ll take what we can get. The fear is that this could be a one-off budget increase, and with the latest recommended pay increase of 3.9%, NHS strike season might be upon us again. Historically, funds from NHS budget increases have often been diverted into pay deals instead of being ring-fenced for other priorities, regardless of circumstances.
I’m all for increased primary prevention, as the data shows that health systems focused on this approach are far more effective. However, the UK has one of the lowest public health expenditures compared to countries like France (€11 billion), Spain (€7.9 billion), and Italy (€9 billion). The King’s Fund estimates that, for effective primary prevention, the NHS should be spending £3,000 per person per year. Currently, the NHS spends just £234 per person per year.
We are far from our target. Despite this positive move, we should be at the forefront of supporting further budget increases to ensure a healthier, happier population.
CPD Prescribing Masterclass
Prescribing is not always straight forward. When deciding whether to prescribe a particular drug, we have to balance the therapeutic benefit with the following:
side effects
allergies
interactions
monitoring requirements
patient behaviour (addiction)
effect on co-morbidities (e.g. frailty)
With new medications and new interactions being discovered regularly, keeping up to date is integral for all clinicians.
This is why we bring you our acclaimed CPD Prescribing Masterclass. This full-day, ONLINE masterclass is designed to update medical and non-medical prescribers with the latest guidance on prescribing practice. We will be giving you case-based, detailed insight into:
Inhaler therapy including prescribing best practice
Diabetes medications including injectible therapies
Drug monitoring
Antibiotic selection and prescribing
Analgesia selection and prescription including emerging classess of analgesia
Emergency prescriptions in primary and secondary care
Emerging drug classes
Join us on Sunday 23rd February from 9:00 - 16:00 on MS teams. If you are unable to make the live event, the event will be RECORDED for future viewing.
You will also receive a total of 6 CPD points. You can sign up here.
Until next time
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