I'm With Stupid
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 6 May 2013
- Messages
- 20,332
I mean it says it right there at the top "as a percentage of GDP." So there are two ways to increase that. The first is to actually increase spending, and the second is to tank the GDP. You'll notice that the two biggest increase on there are the 2008 financial crisis and covid. Do you really think the NHS budgets were increased from 7 to 9% overnight, or did the GDP shrink massively instead? But as everyone has said a million times, it's not really about the NHS budget, it's about the slashing of budgets to all of the ancillary services that then fall on the NHS. Like how the slashing of youth services gives the police more shit to deal with on the same resources. The Tories have been a disaster for public services (which everyone always expected anyway), but they've also been an economic disaster (which some people still believe is their forte) so there's less money to spend on those same public services. If you're blaming inefficiencies, then who is to blame for that? I would suggest the government that's been in power for 13 years is the best place to start looking.What is the answer though? It seems for many the only answer when it come to the NHS is a blank cheque but even that will never be enough.
NHS spending is well above average globally and is on par with the rest of Europe who have far superior systems, we should be doing better with what we have.
For me the NHS represents the same as most infrastructure in the UK, it suffers under it's own weight because it is old and decrepid, some things are still based upon practices that haven't changed since WW2. It needs a total rethink, root and stem.