Centre for Policy on Ageing



Funding the NHS — a little local difficulty?
Author(s)	Jennifer Dixon, Anthony Harrison
Journal title	British Medical Journal, vol 314, no 7075, 18 January 1997
Pages	pp 216-219
Keywords	National Health Service ; Finance [care].
Annotation	This is the third in a series of articles discussing how the NHS is funded. Although national analyses suggest that the NHS should be able to cope within the increases in spending it has been given, local pressures can leave parts of the service struggling. The change to allocation of funds on the basis of population needs has meant that some authorities and trusts have had cuts in their budgets, requiring them to trim services. The government's insistence on a 3% increase in efficiency may have resulted in authorities taking short term measures that decrease efficiency in the long term. Health authorities have had to bear the costs of national targets such as reducing waiting lists and junior doctors' hours as well as local problems such as higher numbers of mentally disordered offenders. However, all these factors can be controlled by national or local management and so their impact is not inevitable.
Accession Number	CPA-970228015 A
Classmark	L4: QC *
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.