§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will make it his policy to link funding of the National Health Service to the growth in national income; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will estimate the additional funding required to bring the funding of the National Health Service in line with national income predictions over the next two years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonI assume my hon. Friend is referring to the proposal in the recent report by the Institute of Health Service Management/British Medical Association/Royal College of Nursing. We are studying the report's analysis and comments, taking account of the fact that the proper measure of the National Health Service is the record and growing amount of treatment and care it provides.
The additional cost of increasing present planned gross expenditure on the National Health Service (Great Britain) in line with forecast growth of 2.5 per cent. per annum in GDP would be:
£ million 1988–89 1,032 1989–90 1,605