It was predictable that Wes Streeting’s department would emerge as the winner from this week’s budget, given the scale of the difficulties facing the NHS, particularly its vast waiting lists, and the strength of public feeling about this. The promised increase of £22.6bn over two years, plus £3.1bn for repairs and equipment, will bring the average annual increase in day-to-day spending in England up to 4%.
Big as these numbers are, they are far from transformative. The historic average increase is 3.6%. Ageing populations, new drugs and medical technology mean that the UK and other western democracies need to raise health spending by around this amount to meet voters’ expectations.
