Analysis: UK-US trade deal could force NHS to divert £45bn, causing 229,000 excess deaths in England
By
Andrew Gregory
Summary
Analysis suggests the UK-US trade deal agreed in December will force the NHS to divert £45bn from essential services to pay for more expensive US drugs, potentially leading to 229,000 avoidable deaths in England. While ministers defend the deal as beneficial for British drug exports and patient access to life-extending medicines, critics argue the government caved to US demands under pressure from Donald Trump.
Source
bskyAnalysis: UK-US trade deal could force NHS to divert £45bn, causing 229,000 excess deaths in Englandtheguardian.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledThe NHS will have to divert £45bn from essential services to pay for new medicines under the terms of the UK-US trade deal agreed last December, leading to more than 200,000 avoidable deaths of patients, analysis has found.
Ministers have defended the deal as a way of helping British drug exports to the US avoid tariffs, and giving patients in England access to potentially life-extending drugs that would otherwise be denied.
But they have been accused of caving in to US demands to spend billions of pounds a year extra on drugs supplied to the NHS after pressure from Donald Trump.
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