Health spending, and the performance of the NHS, will feature prominently in the upcoming general election campaign. Many different factors matter for NHS performance and for the wider health of the population, but one important factor is the level of spending on health services. In this IFS...

One year ago, NHS England published its plan to tackle the backlog of elective care, which had surged following the onset of the pandemic. Since then, as widely expected, waiting lists for NHS treatment in England have continued to grow, increasing by around 1 million between February and...

There are marked differences in life expectancy between the regions of England, between the countries in the UK, and between the UK and other wealthy countries. Within England, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy at birth was more than two years higher in London and the South East...

Policies that aim to reduce the prevalence of obesity have been high on the policy agenda for many years - see, for example, DHSC (2020) and Dimbleby (2021). Understanding the costs associated with obesity is important for informing policy. Bell and Deyes (2022) have recently produced what are,...

NHS waiting lists are likely to be a key issue in the forthcoming general election. The current government has made cutting NHS waiting lists one of its key priorities, while one of the Labour party's five national missions is to "get the NHS back on its feet", including by cutting waiting...

Health is the largest single area of Scottish Government spending, making up 35% of the Scottish Government's total discretionary budget in 2024-25 and 39% of its non-benefit budget.2 Its share of spending has grown significantly over time, driven by large increases in health spending in the...