§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the total cost of chronic disease to(a) the NHS and (b) the economy as a whole. [157582]
§ Mr. HuttonThere is a rang of evidence that confirms that patients with chronic conditions make the most use of health services. For example, around 80 per cent. of general practice consultations and 60 per cent. of hospital bed usage relates to chronic diseases. It is, however, difficult to estimate the full costs of these conditions reliably. Spending on the disease-focused national service frameworks was estimated at £9.9 billion in 2002–03 by Derek Wanless in "Securing our Future Health: Taking a Long-term View", but this represents only a part of the costs of chronic disease.
Improving the care offered to people with chronic conditions now represents a major challenge to the National Health Service and partner organisations and we have just announced plans to establish demonstration sites within each strategic health authority as part of a programme to address this challenge.