NHS: Budget

Lord Campbell-Savours Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of economies available within the National Health Service’s budget.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, the Government have guaranteed that health spending will increase in real terms in each year of the Parliament. However, it is clear that funding growth will be constrained and, in order to meet rapidly rising demands and to realise our ambitions for improved health outcomes, substantial improvements in economy and efficiency will be required across all areas of health spending. Full plans for delivering these improvements will be developed during the spending review.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

My Lords, recognising the relationship between transparency and the economic use of resources, will the Government consider amending the National Health Service pharmaceutical regulations to require manufacturers of prescribed products and appliances to indicate on the label of the packaging the tariff price of a generic product or the manufacturer’s list price of a branded product? Can he refer this whole matter to the transparency unit that his Government have set up?

--- Later in debate ---

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, to ensure that the quality of NHS services continues to improve in a climate of constrained growth, we must achieve greater productivity, but that means designing services for better quality and value for money. It does not mean downgrading the quality of the services. It is for local NHS bodies to decide how services can best be delivered most efficiently. I would be very surprised if that kind of dilution of expertise formed a part of any such plans.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

Would it not be quite wrong for the Department of Health to prejudge what the transparency unit might say on the price labelling of prescribed products?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I do not think that we have prejudged it because extensive work has already been done in the department. It found that if, for example, a medicine has a high price attached to it, people might be deterred from taking it because of their fear of being a burden on the NHS. Equally, if a medicine has a low price put on it, someone might wrongly perceive that the lower price was linked to lower quality. That is based on research. It is not simply civil servants reacting to an idea; there is a lot of work behind it.