The letter from 140 health professionals (8 April) clearly identifies the problems the NHS has experienced in recent years. Key to the future is the issue of funding. The NHS accounted for less than 4% of GDP in its early years and this has risen to more than 9% now, with a particularly steep increase under Labour from 1997. Such increases have led to concerns regarding the system’s sustainability. But this reflects a complete misunderstanding of the nature of the healthcare system.
Decades ago the American economist William Baumol defined certain sectors as being “handicraft industries” (health, education, the performing arts) that were disproportionately reliant on people rather than machinery, and as such with limited productivity gains. Elsewhere, productivity gains are more easily attained and goods become cheaper (such as the laptop I am using to write this).
Far from cutting down on bureaucracy the NHS now has a bewildering number of new bodies
Is it possible the BBC is adopting a less-than-balanced approach to news reporting in the runup to May’s election?
Five years ago, I believed the Conservatives’ pledges on the NHS. It is not a mistake I will repeat
Continue reading...
No comments:
Post a Comment