How much does health and care cost?

In 2018/19 the Department for Health and Social Care spent £130.3 billion. This money is used to fund a wide range of health and care services including public health, GP services, training, vaccinations, ambulance, mental health, community, hospital and some parts of non-NHS health and social care services. £2.9 billion of the Department for Health and Social Care’s budget is spent on administration costs for the department and system as a whole, such as running costs for the department, regulatory costs and business services like the NHS payroll.

Find out more about our position on NHS funding and investment.

What percentage of GDP does the United Kingdom spend on health compared to other countries?

In 2018 the United Kingdom spent 9.8 per cent of GDP on health. When compared to similar countries (those in the EU-15, G7 and Anglosphere) this is slightly below the average of 10.1 per cent.

How much of the NHS budget is spent on the workforce?

The NHS is one of the world’s largest employers with around 1.1 million full-time equivalent staff in England. Consequently, the wage bill for the NHS makes up a substantial proportion of the budget. In 2016/17, the total cost of NHS staff was £47.6 billion which amounted to 44.9 per cent of the NHS budget. These statistics don’t include temporary staff, GPs or employees from the Department of Health and Social Care and other national bodies such as NHS England and NHS Improvement.

What’s the cost of going to A&E?

The cost of going to A&E varies depending on the type of A&E an individual attends – from a major, consultant-led department to an urgent care centre or walk-in clinic – and the type of treatment they receive. For someone who attends an urgent care centre and receives the lowest level of investigation and treatment the average cost is around £45. For an individual at a major A&E department who receives more complex investigation and treatment the average cost is around £400.

What’s the cost of an ambulance trip to A&E?

In 2017/18, the average cost of a patient being taken to A&E by ambulance was £252. Ambulance call-outs that didn’t result in a trip to A&E cost an average of £192.

What's the cost of an operation?

The cost of an operation varies depending on a range of factors, such as the complexity of the procedure and how long the patient stays in hospital. In the NHS in England, the national tariff outlines the average cost of procedures. These average costs are then adjusted to take account of local variation, such as higher costs of staffing in London (this is known as the market forces factor).

For example, in 2018/19 a tonsillectomy for a child without complications cost, on average, £1,190, and the average cost of a coronary artery bypass graft was £9,916. The cost of a hip replacement varied from £6,068 to £11,632 depending on the complexity of the operation and the condition of the patient.

What’s the cost of a GP appointment?

A recent study estimated that, in 2017/18, the average 9-minute GP consultation costs £37.40.