Dive Brief:
- During last week's general election in the UK, the left-leaning Labour and the Liberal Democrats both took a beating, with the Conservative Party, the Tories, emerging as the victors with 326 seats—enough to form a conservative majority.
- As Pharma Times notes, the Tories have promised the National Health Service (NHS) an extra $12.4 billion per year—though it's not clear where the money will come from. And in life sciences specifically, the party has pledged more money for infrastructure and research and to attempt to forge closer ties between the private biopharma sector and the NHS.
- Prime Minister David Cameron has also promised seven-day-a-week general practitioner (GP) services, in addition to having an additional 5,000 GPs available to treat patients.
Dive Insight:
David Cameron has emerged as a pro-NHS conservative statesman determined to fix what many perceive as a badly ailing National Health Service. But he has his task cut out for him. The NHS is in dire need of added funding, with 26% of all of the local trusts facing deficits, up from 10% in 2012/2013.
The goal is to resuscitate the NHS, not only to ultimately save the system, but to make it better. Towards that end, Cameron's government has formulated an NHS Five Year Plan, which aims to more closely integrate services, invest in infrastructure and research, and encourage innovation.
While NHS advocates are pleased with this level of commitment, the Royal College of General Practitioners has warned that taking the long view is necessary, as they predict that the impact of the new measures won't be evident until 2034.