Tag Archives: Publicly funded health care

EPC Publications | Europe cannot afford people in bad health – Economics of health and care as a guide for investments by Hans Martens

July 6, 2016 By in Business Administration, Healthcare, NHS, People, Politics, Public Sector, Public Services Reform Tags: , Leave a comment
Health care systems

Health care systems (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this Commentary, Hans Martens argues that, in order to keep Europe’s health systems sustainable, policy makers need to acknowledge the economic value of health for individuals and society.

Source: EPC Publications | Europe cannot afford people in bad health – Economics of health and care as a guide for investments by Hans Martens

This is an excellent publication and well worth a read.

Putting the article in context, matters are much more urgent after the Brexit referendum. Both the UK and Europe face severe economic uncertainty and squandering money on public healthcare makes no economic sense. There are global best practice exemplars in public healthcare but restrictive practices from powerful unions is often blocking radical change.

Thoughts?

Opinion – NHS faces bigger than expected financial ‘black hole’ – FT.com

April 7, 2015 By in Accountability, Austerity, Business Administration, Business Strategy, Business Transformation, Central Government, Cost Cutting, Cost Reduction, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Efficiencies, George Osborne, Healthcare, NHS, Nigel Ferange, Outsourcing, People, Politicians, Politics, Public Sector, Public Services Reform, Reform, Shared Services, Spending Review 2010, Transformation Risk Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
English: East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

English: East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The logo of NHS Wales

The logo of NHS Wales (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The National Health Service Norfolk and Norwic...

The National Health Service Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the UK, showing the utilitarian architecture of many modern hospitals. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is an important article from the FT, citing latest independent research evidence from think-tank, the Health Foundation. Ahead of the UK national election, it’s a must-read. Check it out!

via NHS faces bigger than expected financial ‘black hole’ – FT.com.

If you want to review the detailed evidence, open this link and download the full report from the Health Foundation. 

According to the FT, ‘the National Health Service is facing an even bigger financial “black hole” than politicians and health leaders have acknowledged, following a sharp fall in productivity’. It argues that hospital productivity has tumbled since 2012, as a result of the structural  shake-up that stripped out layers of management and handed budget control to clinicians. This is all despite the inflation protection of the budget.

This latest evidence will be no surprise to regular readers of this blog. John Gelmini and myself have been arguing for four years that the UK’s public healthcare system is an omni-shambles. There has been massive and disgraceful bungling of the NHS by David Cameron’s coalition government and previously the Labour Party governments under Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. We have regularly explained why the NHS is beyond effective reform. It’s in the UK’s national interest to scrap the NHS and replace it with a leaner, best-of-breed, public healthcare system, modeled on exemplars like Singapore, Germany and Italy. The risk of continuing with the NHS is now greater and much more costly than scrapping it and starting again.

Why aren’t the mainstream media being honest with their readers and challenging the UK’s political classes to come-clean and stop wasting billions of pounds on the NHS? Otherwise, surely the NHS ‘black-hole’ will start to weaken the UK’s credit rating?

Thoughts?