By Jock Mulligan
The NHS, that grand experiment, the jewel in the crown that’s been tarnished by neglect and miserly hands has featured in debates in Ireland of late and I guarantee you, Labour will make it a huge part of the debate against Scottish Independence.
One of the bigger sticking points for the undecided third of the population of the North of Ireland who are undecided, have indicated that the access to free medical care is the biggest- and most important block to them stepping over the line. The King’s Fund, God bless ’em, they’ve been doing the honest work of comparing it to the neighbours. And what do they find, year after year? That your beloved NHS, this beacon of universal care, is being starved!
The NHS: A Grand Idea, Starved of Funds
The very idea of the NHS is a socialist dream, isn’t it? A socialist dream that has existed for nearly 80 years. Healthcare based on need, not on your wallet. A pure, unadulterated system where the sick are cared for because they are sick, not because they’ve got a fancy insurance policy or a stack of gold in the mattress. It’s a truly egalitarian principle, a shining example of collective responsibility. No-one gets into crippling debt for a broken arm. Not one soul loses their home for a kidney. And no one sits founder’t, shivering in their own home, afraid to turn up the heating because they’ve a prescription of expensive, life enhancing, life saving drugs.
But what the King’s Fund keeps shouting from the rooftops, with all their facts and figures, is that this grand, noble institution is being forced to run on fumes compared to its European cousins. They look at Germany, France, the Netherlands – countries with what they call “hybrid models,” a bit of public, a bit of private, all mixed together like a good stew. And what do they see? More money going in! Significantly more, per head of population, than what we’re scraping together for your NHS.
Your NHS model is cheaper- and much more efficient than the Euro-models, even though the Euro-models receive more public money per GDP than the UK model. And in the UK, no one gets ripped off by some service fobbed off to the off- shoring, billionaire bolstering private sector. In debates in the North of Ireland, right wing politicians are already citing Scandi/European models as “better,” when they are fughing bloody not!
Less Funding, More Strain
It’s like having a grand old engine, a Rolls-Royce of a system, but only putting in enough petrol to run a bicycle. The King’s Fund reports consistently show that UK public spending on health is lagging. While other European nations are investing a healthy chunk of their GDP into healthcare, ensuring shorter waiting lists, better equipped hospitals, and more staff, your NHS is constantly battling to keep its head above water.
The result? The strain shows, so it does. Your waiting lists lengthen, your nurses are run ragged (and many are living in fughing poverty), your doctors are exhausted, and your hospitals are crying out for upgrades. The very principle of the NHS—universal care, free at the point of need—is being undermined not by a failure of the idea itself, but by a deliberate lack of material investment.
These “hybrid models” might have their complexities, with different roles for private insurers or patient co-payments, but the fundamental truth is they ensure a higher overall level of funding. THEY ARE SPENDING MORE. They are putting more resources into their healthcare systems, and the outcomes often reflect that. It’s not about privatising the NHS; it’s about giving your public, universal system the financial backing it truly needs to thrive, as its founders intended.
The Illusion of Efficiency
They try to tell you it’s about efficiency, don’t they? “The NHS just needs to be more efficient!” But you can only wring so much blood from a stone.
The King’s Fund’s analysis lays bare the lie: the NHS is already incredibly efficient, doing more with less than many of these better-funded systems. But there comes a point where “less” simply means less care, longer waits, and a system pushed to breaking point.
The lack of funding isn’t just an economic detail; it’s a political choice. It’s a choice to underinvest in the collective well-being of the population. It’s about a financial return for wealthy investors in the biggest untapped market in Europe – your health, your health data- making your debt greater… your chances of losing your homes are higher, because rich right wingers give no fughs about you. The NHS is set up TO CARE for you, from the moment you enter its system for health, to the moment you no longer need its care. From the cradle, to the grave. It’s a choice to let your grand, socialist experiment in healthcare slowly wither, while pretending that “efficiency” is the answer, when all that’s truly needed is a commitment to proper, sustained public funding—funding comparable to what those ‘hybrid’ systems are providing to their citizens. The King’s Fund reports are a constant, damning indictment of that choice.
