The government’s long-term spending on UK healthcare is “well below the long-term historical average” as the NHS continues to tackle “a logjam of over seven million people waiting for treatment”.
Early estimates from the Office for National Statistics show that nominal UK healthcare expenditure was around £317 billion in 2024. Between 2023 and 2024, total healthcare expenditure grew by 6.5 percent, but fell to 2.4 percent once adjusted for inflation.
Healthcare spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) was 11.1 percent in 2024, similar to the level in 2023.
Government-financed healthcare makes up most healthcare spending in the UK and was £258 billion in 2024, a real-terms increase of 2.5 percent from 2023.
Predictably, the pandemic had a major impact on government healthcare spending between 2020 and 2022, particularly in terms of preventive care spending. This area of spending increased from 4.5 percent of government health costs in 2019 to reach a peak of 14.1 percent in 2021. The increase was mainly due to the set up of programmes responding to the pandemic, including the vaccine rollout and early disease prevention programmes.
In 2023, the share of preventive care had fallen to 5.2 percent, which is more comparable to the pre-pandemic period, although still higher.
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at independent consultancy Broadstone, said: “Today’s data illustrates that while healthcare is increasingly taking up a bigger slice of the government’s budget, reaching a record £317 bn in 2024, the real terms increase of 2.5 percent is well below the long-term historical average.
“As the UK population continues to age, and as levels of obesity and diabetes continue to increase among the population, current levels of healthcare spending will be insufficient to meet the future needs of the population.
“With the NHS still tackling a logjam of over seven million people waiting for treatment, and record levels of public dissatisfaction with GP services, it is clear that the UK’s healthcare model has to change, not just with additional funding sources, but with a greater role for the private sector and an increased focus on primary and preventative healthcare.
“With rising economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, workplace healthcare has become a board room conversation, and employers increasingly recognise they have to invest in healthcare benefits and preventative care, such as private medical insurance, health cash plans or even on-site GP access, to keep their staff happy, healthy and productive.”
