UK's NHS on target for L1.75B "surplus"

The UK's National Health Service is on target for a budget surplus of L1.75 billion ($3.24 billion) for the fiscal year 2008/2009, according to the Department of Health, based on first-quarter figures. In a statement, the Department said that "the surplus - predicted to be around 2% of the overall NHS budget - will stay within the NHS to improve patient care and is in line with the expected financial position."

Allocating some of the surplus to the public sector health care provider's drugs bill could make a sizeable difference. In 2007, the total spent on medicines was L10.83 billion or 10.3% of the NHS'L104.68-billion total. Since 2000, when pharmaceuticals reached 12.4% of total government spending on health care, their share has dropped back to levels from the early 1990s, according to data from the Office of Health Economics.

The UK Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley (Conservative, South Cambridgeshire), reacted to the news by noting that many primary care trusts are rationing access to drugs (Marketletters passim). The parliamentary opposition spokesman on health said: "the government should explain why money voted in by Parliament for health care is not being used to make sure patients get the medical treatment that they need."