The deal has been billed as offering the NHS faster access to groundbreaking new treatments and more drugs approvals but also comes with worrying conditions. 

It commits the NHS to paying up to 25% more for new medicines and also lowers  the rebate drug companies are required to pay to the NHS for higher-than-expected sales. 

It has been assumed, although it has not been confirmed, the additional annual cost which has been estimated at £3bn, will be borne by the Treasury but there is a real danger that this cost is eventually absorbed within the NHS budget. 

As a result, there is the potential for funds that could be used for frontline services being diverted into the coffers of multi-billion pharmaceutical companies. 

This raises serious questions over the long-term protection of the NHS budget and the priorities of Government, and is bound to fuel fears of creeping privatisation. 

With NHS resources increasingly stretched to breaking point the prospect of diverting precious funds to the private sector is a worrying development.