The Coalition’s Record on Health: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015

This is one of a series of papers examining aspects of the social policy record of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition in England from 2010-15, with a particular focus on poverty, inequality and the distribution of social and economic outcomes. The papers follow a similar but smaller set covering Labour’s record from 1997-2010, published in 2013. They follow the same format as those papers. Starting with a brief assessment of the situation the Coalition inherited from Labour, they move to a description of the Coalition’s aims (as discerned from manifestos, the Coalition Agreement and subsequent policy statements) and the policies enacted. They then describe trends in spending on the area under consideration, and provide an account of what was bought and done with the money expended (inputs and outputs). Finally, they turn to outcomes, and a discussion of the relationship between policies, spending and outcomes, so far as this can be discerned.

All the papers focus on UK policy where policy is not devolved (for example taxes and benefits) and English policy where it is, although in some cases some spending, outcomes and international comparisons cannot be disaggregated below the UK level. In the case of devolved policy areas, key points of similarity and difference between England and the other UK nations are highlighted, but a full four country comparison is beyond the scope of the study.

The current paper provides an evaluation of the Coalition’s record on health over the period 2010-2015. The paper follows on from an earlier research report (Vizard and Obolenskaya 2013) which evaluated Labour’s record on health 1997-2010 using a similar conceptual framework. Like our overview paper (Lupton et al 2015), this health paper is in many ways an interim assessment. Many of the major health reforms introduced by the Coalition were only put into place in 2013, and, in some cases, are still being rolled out. Independent evaluation evidence remains patchy and current health data typically dates to no later than 2012/2013. This evaluation of the Coalition’s record on health will therefore require updating when data for the second half of the administration, together with further independent evaluation evidence, becomes available. Whilst we examine overall UK trends and comment on trends in Wales, Scotland and Ireland in some cases, health is a devolved policy area and the focus is on developments in England.This is one of a series of papers examining aspects of the social policy record of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition in England from 2010-15, with a particular focus on poverty, inequality and the distribution of social and economic outcomes. The papers follow a similar but smaller set covering Labour’s record from 1997-2010, published in 2013. They follow the same format as those papers. Starting with a brief assessment of the situation the Coalition inherited from Labour, they move to a description of the Coalition’s aims (as discerned from manifestos, the Coalition Agreement and subsequent policy statements) and the policies enacted. They then describe trends in spending on the area under consideration, and provide an account of what was bought and done with the money expended (inputs and outputs). Finally, they turn to outcomes, and a discussion of the relationship between policies, spending and outcomes, so far as this can be discerned.

All the papers focus on UK policy where policy is not devolved (for example taxes and benefits) and English policy where it is, although in some cases some spending, outcomes and international comparisons cannot be disaggregated below the UK level. In the case of devolved policy areas, key points of similarity and difference between England and the other UK nations are highlighted, but a full four country comparison is beyond the scope of the study.

The current paper provides an evaluation of the Coalition’s record on health over the period 2010-2015. The paper follows on from an earlier research report (Vizard and Obolenskaya 2013) which evaluated Labour’s record on health 1997-2010 using a similar conceptual framework. Like our overview paper (Lupton et al 2015), this health paper is in many ways an interim assessment. Many of the major health reforms introduced by the Coalition were only put into place in 2013, and, in some cases, are still being rolled out. Independent evaluation evidence remains patchy and current health data typically dates to no later than 2012/2013. This evaluation of the Coalition’s record on health will therefore require updating when data for the second half of the administration, together with further independent evaluation evidence, becomes available. Whilst we examine overall UK trends and comment on trends in Wales, Scotland and Ireland in some cases, health is a devolved policy area and the focus is on developments in England.