12 December 2024 - The purpose of England's NHS is to improve the health and wellbeing of the nation through provision of health care. 

The money available to achieve this purpose is restricted and the cost of providing all possible health care to all possible citizens would vastly exceed the NHS budget. As new drugs emerge, decisions therefore need to be made about whether the health benefits that these drugs offer are sufficient to justify the health benefits that will be foregone elsewhere in the NHS to free up the resources required to pay for them.

Read The Lancet article