This year’s NHS bill is £87bn … so just where did the cash go?
All new spending on the NHS has been blocked. How could a multi-billion pound increase in funding fail to prevent closed wards and cancelled operations? Jo Revill reports.
Hewitt reassures smoking ban critics
The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, tonight held out an olive branch to critics of the government’s partial ban on smoking in pubs, hinting that the prohibition could apply to all pubs by 2010. Defending the bill to Labour backbenchers, many … Continue reading
Health chief nearly quit over smoking compromise
The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has told MPs that he had come close to resignation over the government's failure to back a complete public smoking ban as a Department of Health consultation found near-universal support for a ban in all pubs and clubs.
NHS cash crisis bars knee and hip replacements for obese
· Suffolk curb is first evidence of rationing · Even patients in pain will be refused surgery