3 August 2017 - What’s the right amount of spending on health care? And how does the UK’s spending compare with that of its European neighbours? 

For a long time the view was that the UK spent less than the European average. But new estimates that are based on new accounting methods give a different picture. As John Appleby and Ben Gershlick explain, the new figure is 9.8% of GDP, which puts the UK ninth in the European Union league table and is pretty much bang on the EU average (though at the bottom end of the weighted average, if you’re into the detail).

The authors emphasise that the figures can’t tell us what we should spend but can tell us what we could spend. To be average for the EU, UK health care spending would have to reduce by £2bn, while to be on a par with Sweden it would need to increase by £24bn.

Read BMJ editorial