The SNP has challenged the Chancellor to “deliver a major funding boost of at least £16billion a year for the NHS at the UK budget” – as new research reveals the UK government has lagged behind our European neighbours on health spending in every single year of the 21st century.
The analysis, commissioned by the SNP and using OECD data, shows the UK government spends less on healthcare per capita than almost every other country in north west Europe.
Across the past two decades, the UK has spent less on healthcare than our European neighbours in every single year.
On average, our European neighbours spent £5,654 per person per year on healthcare between 2000 and 2023, compared to £4,609 for the UK.
That is a gap of more than a thousand pounds (£1,045) – or nineteen per cent – per person per year.
In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available for all countries, the UK government spent less on health than thirteen of the fourteen countries in north west Europe.
It spent £7,963 per person, which was £5,097 – almost forty per cent – less than Norway (£13,060), £3,288 less than Germany (29%), £3,255 less than Switzerland (29%), £2,916 less than Luxembourg (27%), £1,894 less than Ireland (19%), £1,836 less than the Netherlands (19%), £1,679 less than Denmark (17%), £1,533 less than Austria (16%), £1,524 less than Sweden (16%), £954 less than France (11%), £845 less than Iceland (10%), and £589 less than Belgium (7%).
Last year, the same trend continued, with the UK government spending the least of the eight countries for which 2023 data is currently available and £1,986 – nineteen per cent – less per person than the average of our European neighbours.
A funding boost of £16billion would deliver an additional £1.6billion in Barnett consequentials to spend on healthcare in Scotland, and it would be a start in closing the gap with our European neighbours, raising UK spending by around £238 per person.
The SNP call for more funding follows the publication of a damning report into NHS England last month, and a growing debate about NHS funding ahead of the UK budget.
The report, by Lord Darzi, warned NHS England is in a “critical condition” and “serious trouble”, which it says has been chronically weakened by the UK government’s policy of austerity and starved of capital investment leading to “crumbling buildings”.
Despite this, Rachel Reeves halted NHS England’s hospital building programme and placed it under review as one of her first acts as Chancellor.
She has also instructed UK government departments to model cuts to their investment plans of up to 10% of their annual capital spending ahead of the Budget.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Health spokesperson Seamus Logan MP said:
“The UK government has chronically underfunded the NHS for more than a decade – and as a result it has restricted the funding available for healthcare in Scotland and every part of the UK.
“There is no escaping the fact that the NHS needs more money.
“The Chancellor must deliver a major funding boost of at least £16billion a year for the NHS at the UK budget, which would deliver an additional £1.6billion for NHS Scotland.
“Lord Darzi’s damning report underlined the damaging impact of Westminster austerity cuts on the NHS.
“It must be an urgent wake up call for the Labour government.
“The fact that the UK government has lagged behind our European neighbours on health spending in every year of the 21st century shows that more can and must be done – and a £16billion increase would begin to close the gap.
“The NHS needs investment if it is to deliver the best possible healthcare.
“Hospitals won’t build themselves, the best medication and equipment won’t buy itself, and you can’t recruit more doctors and nurses, or reduce waiting lists, without adequate investment.
“If the Labour government continues to impose austerity cuts it will damage the NHS in every part of the UK by starving our public services of the investment they need.
“As Wes Streeting said – all roads lead back to Westminster.
“It’s vital the Chancellor delivers investment now.”