We're told we'd need to find an extra £5bn every year
to be able to afford an NHS that maintains standards, free at the point of
delivery.
We're told it's only
possible if we allow the private sector to take on more of our healthcare
delivery.
We're told that other
countries, including the progressive lefty ones, use a mix of public and
private to be able to afford modern healthcare.
But
a look at the data from other countries shows...
- Our
system is the most efficient and cost effective.
- We’re
spending less than almost everyone else – i.e. not enough.
- If
we spent more, it should be on the system that is the most efficient and cost
effective. Ours.
First, here’s the graph from a report by NHS England,
showing how funding is falling behind spending requirements.
Now take a look at the costs, per head, of all the OECD countries. You’ll see that every nation has a mix of public and private
provision, to varying degrees. What it shows is that the UK spends less than
almost any nation comparable to ours.
What else does it
tell us? If we had almost any of the other comparable nations’ public-private
mix, we’d be spending more than that £5bn extra already.
- Any other system we choose that costs approximately
$125/head (=£83/head) more than ours, will end up costing us more than that
£5bn the NHS needs.
- 60m
people in the UK
- 60m
X £83 = £5bn
Let’s now dig a little deeper into the performance of
each country: quality, accessibility, efficiency, and results. The Commonwealth Fund, a healthcare think tank based in the US, ranks a range of comparable
countries, by different criteria. The UK came top in most, and overall.
You’ll note that the UK comes almost bottom in one,
very important criteria: Healthy Lives.
Compared to these
other nations, our overall mortality rates, infant mortality, and life expectancy
figures are indeed among the worst. But isn’t that because we’re spending less
than the others, rather than because we don’t have enough private provision?
There is no doubt one big advocate for spending that
extra £83 per head: the private healthcare companies and their friends in
government, on condition none of it is spent on the NHS.