Comment
The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos all contained commitments to increase NHS spending over the next parliament. In this observation we set out what these commitments are likely to mean for the path of health spending in England going forwards, and put this in the context of the pressures faced by the health service from an ageing population. All three parties are proposing real increases in health spending over the next parliament, but at a rate well below the long run historical average. The next parliament will therefore continue to be an incredibly challenging period for the NHS, regardless of who wins the election. In the long run the NHS would be better served by a serious attempt to address long run funding pressures in a coherent and systematic fashion, than by the government just announcing further short term funding fixes.
