§ Mr. Galleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what additional resources have become available to the National Health Service as a result of efficiency improvements in the last two years; and how far these resources have been devoted to patient care.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeIt is impossible to quantify precisely the improvements derived from better use of resources in the NHS. The best measure is improvements achieved in the levels of patient care, and levels of activity are steadily rising at a faster rate than the level of resources. The Government have set in hand a major programme of management improvement in the NHS designed to improve still further this drive to better use of resources and to maximise patient care. For the current financial year, health authorities are already reporting plans for cost improvement measures which will release for patient services an additional £100 million or about 1 per cent. of their revenue spending. I would expect the plans reported to the central Government usually to be an underestimate of what can and is being achieved on the ground.