§ Mr. Ray Powellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present level of expenditure on the National Health Service; and how it compares per head of population with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member States.
§ Sir George YoungThere are serious difficulties in making meaningful comparisons of health care expenditure in different countries, since such expenditure is not recorded on a strictly comparable basis in the relevant national accounts, and does not take account of differences in "value for money" or in the purchasing power of different currencies. The best figures at present available, are those produced in 1977 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development itself, which give total expenditure on health care provision among member States—that is, public and private combined—at current market prices in 1974 or near date. The figures refer to current expenditure only, and expenditure per 731W head is calculated from expenditure in local currency converted to £ sterling according to the average exchange rate for the year in question.
Country Expenditure per head £ Australia 161 Austria 108 Belgium 117 Canada (1973) 151 Denmark 172(1) Finland (1975) 150 France 149 Germany 183 Greece (1975) 36 Iceland (Information not available) Ireland (1975) 76 Italy 72 Japan 89 Luxembourg 110 Netherlands (1972) 102 New Zealand (1973–74) 88 Norway (1973) 112 Portugal (Information not available) Spain 50
NHS expenditure at current prices* NHS expenditure at constant (1970) prices*† United Kingdom Index of basic wage rates (manual workers)§‡ £ million Index £ million Index 1956 633 100 1,021 100 100 1957 685 108 1,062 104 111 1958 728 115 1,079 106 113 1959 788 124 1,151 113 117 1960 861 136 1,235 121 120 1961 928 147 1,289 126 125 1962 971 153 1,302 128 129 1963 1,035 164 1,358 133 134 1964 1,130 178 1,447 142 141 1965 1,275 201 1,566 153 146 1966 1,401 221 1,655 162 154 1967 1,558 246 1,790 175 158 1968 1,693 268 1,881 184 169 1969 1,773 280 1,899 186 178 1970 2,024 320 2,011 197 198 1971 2,299 363 2,071 203 221 1972 2,650 419 2,167 212 248 1973 3,013 476 2,264 222 289 1974 3,934 622 2,550 250 341 1975 5,299 837 2,666 261 454 1976 6,236 985 2,757 270 539 1977 6,897 1,090 2,741 268 569 * Source: Report of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service, Cmnd. 7615 (HMSO 1979). † Excludes "NHS Other" expenditure, included in current price series (£4 million in 1956, and £27 million 1977). ‡ Source: Annual Abstract of Statistics. § Weekly wage rates, all industries and services.