An NHS tax? Osborne won’t like it, but the public will

[Northerner]

The NHS is one of our most cherished institutions. The Commonwealth Fund, a private American foundation that supports independent research on health, judged it to be overall the best, and easily the best value for money, of any national system of healthcare. Yet today it faces an existential crisis.

Hospitals are running up huge deficits and their financial situation is deteriorating rapidly. A shortage of doctors has forced over a hundred GP surgeries to apply for the right to stop accepting patients. Morale among junior doctors is so low that they not only went on strike but many now feel they have to emigrate. As Polly Toynbee demonstrated in Tuesday’s Guardian, the NHS will need a large injection of new cash to make up for the gross neglect of mental health.

Lack of cash lies at the heart of the NHS crisis, and the fundamental reason is that its costs rise much faster than the growth of GDP (or national income). We live longer, and the older we get the more medical care we need. New expensive drugs and surgical procedures cure diseases that were incurable before.

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...rge-osborne-public-health-social-care-funding

 

[AlisonM]

I'm not surprised they don't like the idea of hypothecated (is that a real word? And do they mean ring-fenced?) taxes, there'd be less cash to waste on pointless wars and other white elephants like the billions wasted on low quality IT initiatives and wheezes such as the ID Card fiasco.

 

[trophywench]

Don't care what they call it - just B well DO it !!!!