Atlantic Books to publish book on the future of health by Sir David Haslam

Atlantic Books is to publish The Price of Your Life: How Healthcare Became Too Expensive by the former chair of NICE (The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence) Sir David Haslam. Publishing Director for Non-Fiction Mike Harpley acquired World rights from the Blake Friedmann Agency. It will be published in hardback and eBook in early 2022.

With a single drug in the UK currently costing £340,000 per patient per year, or a gene therapy in the USA being costed at $1.2million, who should get such treatments and how can we begin to afford them? Should we all be entitled to timely mental health therapy? How should we care for our old?

As we grapple with the world’s worst pandemic for a century, our minds are on our health more than ever. But what should we rightfully expect of doctors? In this original and thought-provoking book, Sir David Haslam explores what good healthcare should achieve and asks how we pay for it. Informed by patient stories and data from across the world – from US big pharma to Britain’s NHS – this is an urgent and often moving examination of our most important asset: our health.

Sir David Haslam is former chair of NICE, former president of the Royal College of GPs, and former president of the British Medical Association. He began his illustrious career as a GP.

Mike Harpley said,

‘David has decades of experience at the top of the NHS, and as Chair of NICE, he was ultimately responsible for some of the most difficult and controversial decisions in British healthcare. This book is utterly unique, controversial, and fascinating. It highlights the impossible choices that countries face with ageing populations as technology and healthcare collide.’

David Haslam said,

‘I have spent many years watching the NHS struggle with escalating costs, infinite demand and finite budgets. This has become even more apparent in the COVID crisis. Something has to give. This book is my attempt to explore this vital issue and explore how we – and other countries – might deal with it.’

Sam Hodder at Blake Friedman said,

‘The challenges confronted by The Price of Your Life have never been more pressing, and no-one is more qualified to be our guide than Sir David Haslam. I’m delighted that Atlantic will be publishing this timely and important book.’