Think Tanks
 Printable version
|
IEA - NHS not fit for purpose anymore & must be reformed
IEA comments on the NHS's 70th birthday
On the 70th birthday of the NHS, Kate Andrews, News Editor at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says:
“The National Health Service is one year older, but none the wiser. No level of adoration or praise around its 70th anniversary can gloss over the fact that the system’s poor performance is costing thousands of lives each year.
“You know a system is broken when pouring an extra £20 billion into it annually is only projected to keep it afloat. Britain cannot settle for the status quo – the NHS is an international laggard in regards to health outcomes, ranking in the bottom third of comparisons for health system performance.
“As demographics continue to shift and pressures on the NHS become more burdensome, it is time to look to the Social Health Insurance systems in Europe, under which thousands more people survive serious conditions every year, including strokes and common types of cancer.
“Tomorrow, the balloons will have deflated, the cake will be stale, and the NHS will be back to business as usual – that is, dealing with perpetual crises, one day after another. Let’s be honest about the NHS’s failures now, while there is still time to fix it.”
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries please contact Nerissa Chesterfield, Communications Officer: nchesterfield@iea.org.uk or 0207 799 8920 or 07791 390 268
The IEA’s NHS briefing released earlier this week can be downloaded here.
For more on the IEA’s work on healthcare spending & reform, click here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems and seeks to provide analysis in order to improve the public understanding of economics.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
