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Quality adjusted life years
A quality adjusted life year, or QALY, is a measure that combines how long a treatment extends life with how good that life is.
Summary
- One QALY is one year of life in perfect health. A year at half of full health counts as half a QALY.
- NICE uses the cost per QALY to decide which treatments the NHS should fund.
- For about twenty years NICE treated roughly £20,000 to £30,000 per QALY as the upper limit. In December 2025 the government said the range would rise to £25,000 to £35,000.
- One objection is that QALYs count a year of an older or disabled person's life as worth less.
Interview questions
- What is a QALY?
- A new cancer drug extends life by three months and costs £90,000. Should the NHS pay for it?
- Is it fair to put a price on a year of life?
Practise answering these with a mentor
Our interview preparation has you answer questions like these out loud, with feedback on each answer.
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More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.