The dog that didn’t bark

By A. Mc

POLITICIANS face an unenviable choice in dealing with Britain’s tax-based National Health Service. If they fund it but fail to reform it, they find themselves confronted by galloping health-care inflation and the accusation that they have raised spending, without commensurate results. If they do reform it, they are accused of “meddling” (which often reflects resentment by nurses and doctors at any attempt to squeeze efficiencies out of a patchy system). Possibly the most daunting combination was attempted by David Cameron—namely to instigate sweeping structural adjustments, at the same time as austerity required efficiency savings of £20 billion over four year form 2001-2015 to secure the same level of coverage for an ageing population. Few believe that this has worked.