Report reveals Government failure to get value for money for NHS

12.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 13th Sep 2007

Former NatWest chief Sir Derek Wanless, has revealed in a new report that obesity and low productivity are putting NHS finances at risk. The report, commissioned by the King's Fund think-tank, predicts that a third of men and 28% of women are likely to be classed as obese by 2010. The report identifies that half of the extra investment since 2002 has gone to sustain new pay deals for staff, with the biggest increase in hospital activity being emergency admissions, reflecting inefficiencies in preventative healthcare.

This report is a damning critique of the government's failure to get value for money out of all the extra investment in the NHS. A failure to act on the growing crisis in public health, particularly obesity, threatens to store up even more problems for the NHS in the future. With rising investment in the NHS set to end next year, it is vital that we get more out of the money spent now or we risk the kind of rationing which would see patient care compromised.