3 Health and care funding at 75
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Anita Charlesworth
Abstract
As the NHS marks its 50th anniversary, questions about the financial sustainability of a tax-funded, free at the point of use service are being raised once more. The pressures on the health service are intense. Spending increased to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, following a decade of historically low funding growth. The decade of austerity left the NHS with limited capacity to manage the health shock. COVID-19 exposed and magnified the risks associated with prioritising short-term efficiency and cost control over resilience. Over the next decade building a resilient health service which is able to both reduce the care backlog and respond to a rapidly ageing population with rising health need will require funding to increase by more than inflation and GDP. But the NHS can’t go it alone, it needs to be part of a health eco-system that includes better funded public health and social care services. This raises profound questions about the size of the state and levels of taxation.
Abstract
As the NHS marks its 50th anniversary, questions about the financial sustainability of a tax-funded, free at the point of use service are being raised once more. The pressures on the health service are intense. Spending increased to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, following a decade of historically low funding growth. The decade of austerity left the NHS with limited capacity to manage the health shock. COVID-19 exposed and magnified the risks associated with prioritising short-term efficiency and cost control over resilience. Over the next decade building a resilient health service which is able to both reduce the care backlog and respond to a rapidly ageing population with rising health need will require funding to increase by more than inflation and GDP. But the NHS can’t go it alone, it needs to be part of a health eco-system that includes better funded public health and social care services. This raises profound questions about the size of the state and levels of taxation.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Foreword x
- The NHS at 75: an unfolding story 1
- NHS governance: the centre claims authority 21
- Health and care funding at 75 40
- The devolved nations 71
- NHS at 75: general practice through the lens of access 90
- NHS hospitals and the bedpan doctrine: the first 75 years 112
- Quality and the NHS: fair-weather friends or a longstanding relationship? 136
- Improving health and tackling health inequalities: what role for the NHS? 157
- NHS managers at a crossroads: part of the problem or the solution? 177
- Forgotten, neglected and a poor relation? Reflecting on the 75th anniversary of adult social care 197
- The NHS at 75 in comparative perspective 216
- Our NHS? The changing involvement of patients and the public in England’s health and care system 232
- After 75 years, whither the NHS? Some conclusions 253
- Index 270
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Foreword x
- The NHS at 75: an unfolding story 1
- NHS governance: the centre claims authority 21
- Health and care funding at 75 40
- The devolved nations 71
- NHS at 75: general practice through the lens of access 90
- NHS hospitals and the bedpan doctrine: the first 75 years 112
- Quality and the NHS: fair-weather friends or a longstanding relationship? 136
- Improving health and tackling health inequalities: what role for the NHS? 157
- NHS managers at a crossroads: part of the problem or the solution? 177
- Forgotten, neglected and a poor relation? Reflecting on the 75th anniversary of adult social care 197
- The NHS at 75 in comparative perspective 216
- Our NHS? The changing involvement of patients and the public in England’s health and care system 232
- After 75 years, whither the NHS? Some conclusions 253
- Index 270
