For my last post of the year I want to return to one of the main themes of the year – the short, medium and long term relationship between the state of the British economy and the consequent necessary changes to the way in which the NHS will operate given the reduced level of resources that it has to spend.
In early December the National Audit Office issued a report on the history of the Nicolson challenge to date. They noted that the NHS had started to save some resources but that these had been achieved mainly by the pay freezes of the last few years, with a little help from deflating the hospital tariff.
