NHS

Health

The NHS doesn’t ‘gobble up’ 40% of total public expenditure

By Jess Hacker • 2 mins

About 18% of total public expenditure goes to health, though health accounts for almost 40% of day-to-day departmental budgeted spending. Read

Health

NHS England report on waiting lists confuses patients and cases

By Leo Benedictus • 3 mins

An interactive report available on the NHS England website claims to show the number of patients awaiting treatment, but uses figures for the number of cases instead. Read

Health

£1.7 billion isn’t really the right figure for the total cost of NHS strikes

By Leo Benedictus • 5 mins

It doesn’t include the junior doctors’ strikes in the summer of 2024, and the overall cost would include a range of other factors. Read

Health

Was Keir Starmer right to claim agency staff cost the NHS ‘£5,000 a shift’?

By Jess Hacker • 3 mins

The government hasn’t said what data his claim was based on, but he may have been referring to figures from a Labour party FOI request in 2022. Read

Health

How does revenue from tobacco duties compare to the cost of smoking to the NHS?

By Jess Hacker • 3 mins

Tobacco duties generate around four to five times as much money as smoking costs the NHS to treat. Read

We can’t say what proportion of Scots are on NHS waiting lists

By Nasim Asl • 5 mins

Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have claimed about a seventh of all Scots are waiting for treatment or tests. Read

Child poverty, NHS waiting lists and government spending: BBC Scottish leaders’ debate fact checked

By Full Fact Team • 4 mins

The leaders of five parties in Scotland faced audience questions during an hour-long episode of BBC Debate Night. Read

Health

Labour campaign video doesn’t accurately reflect NHS waiting list data

By Leo Benedictus • 4 mins

There are about 7.5 million cases on the main NHS England waiting list—but only about 6.3 million people waiting. Some people are waiting for more than one thing. Read