Drugs spending rising faster than NHS can afford

NHS spending on drugs is rising at five times the rate its budget is rising – and funding pressures could see access to medications threatened, a think tank has warned.

The King’s Fund said increasing prescribing of cheap drugs like statins, and less common but expensive cancer treatments has seen overall spending on drugs soar from £13 billion in 2010/11 to £17.4 billion in 2016/17.

The rise – an average growth of 5 per cent a year – contrasts with an average rise of 1 per cent to the NHS budget over the period.

The think tank said recent attempts to cut the bill, such as restrictions on drugs which cost the health service more than £20m a year, could see the NHS “returning to the 1990s” with patients increasingly denied access to drugs.

Lord Darzi, former health minister

It came as an independent review by former health minister Lord Darzi warned that the NHS needs more than £50bn extra a year by 2030, simply to meet expected demand.

This would see funding rise from current levels of £123bn a year to £173 bn by 2030 – equating to around £4bn extra a year, in line with demands from the head of the NHS.  

The report, commissioned by the Institute for Public Policy Research, said social care services would need an extra £10bn a year by 2030 to cope with rising demand, warning that even these sums would require a major boost in productivity.

The Prime Minister is expected to announce a funding increase for the NHS later this year, as part of a long-term funding plan.

A green paper on social care will set out options to pay for care of the elderly, which the Health Secretary says will include a “cap” on costs.  

Last year Theresa May’s manifesto pledge to make pensioners pay more towards the cost of social care was swiftly dubbed a “dementia tax” because it would hit sufferers living at home while those with other illnesses would receive hospital care.

In the new report, Lord Darzi said the health service had endured the most austere decade in its history. And he said even a major funding boost for the NHS would be insufficient without extra resources for social care.

Lord Prior, vice-chair of the review

“NHS staff should be congratulated for the improvements they have made to the quality of care they provide. But it is getting harder and harder to access that care and the system is in financial distress,” he said.

“While the prospect of a long-term funding settlement is welcome, it is vital that it delivers enough money to meet the demands of the decade ahead. Funding the NHS, while social care falls over is not an option.”

Lord Prior, former Conservative health minister and vice-chair of the review urged the Government to take heed of the report and invest “heavily” in an integrated system.

He said: “Health and social care is facing a perfect storm, with the needs of a growing and ageing population rising faster than the available resource.

“As a consequence, waiting times are lengthening, more operations are being cancelled, health inequalities are increasing and more hospitals are going into the red.”