Over the years, the NHS has become deified in the UK and in political terms, it is virtually untouchable. In dire need of reform, no political party dares to take even a tiny step towards reforming it. It has become a drain on the economy.
PHARMAC’s budget for medicines is just over NZ$1 billion a year, approximately five per cent of the taxpayer-funded annual health budget.
The NHS spends around £16 billion a year on drugs, of which about £9 billion arises from GPs prescribing and £7 billion from hospital treatment (of which about half is directly reimbursed by NHS England’s specialised services budget). The NHS drugs bill grew by over 7% last year, with particular growth in hospital-driven prescribing. This was considerably faster than growth in the overall NHS budget. In some cases, newer medicines displace other hospital costs or older categories of treatment. However, within this fast-growing pharmaceutical expenditure, there are also opportunities for efficiency which are being missed.
Converting figures to NZ$, the UK spends NZ$31 billion on medication. The NZ cost is NZ$ 205 per person per year. The UK spends NZ$454 per person.
This summer, £400 million a month was used to block buy space in the private health care sector for non-covid patients. 66% of this went unused, possibly because the NHS bureaucrats are hard-wired to be opposed to private health care. Unused, but paid for.
The waiting list for access to consultants and further treatment is 5.6 million and forecast to double as people who became hospital averse during the pandemic resume treatment. On a personal note, I am due to have my 6 monthly BP and blood tests, and this has been deferred indefinitely. The reason? A national shortage of phials used in blood tests and this shortage is forecast to continue until Christmas. Apparently, there are enough for emergency tests, but blood tests are useful for early diagnosis and monitoring changes in blood chemistry so that preventative treatment can take place. This is once again storing up trouble for the future. Meanwhile, the health service is trying to recruit up to 42 managers at salaries of up to £247,000 per year to actively champion diversity, inclusion, and equality of opportunity.
47% of NHS employees have no medical qualifications. In September 2015 total full-time equivalent employees were 1,229,371 of whom 583.837 were support staff. 369,939 giving support to clinical staff and 213,898 in NHS infrastructure support.
The NHS is set up to run for the benefit of the consultants and the bureaucracy, not the patients (heaven forbid that we call them customers!).
Compare the NHS treatment with that of the same services offered by the private sector. In the NHS appointments are placed in e.g., 2-to-3-hour time slots, whereas in the private sector they manage to give specific appointment times. This results in overcrowded waiting rooms, discontent amongst the outpatients and inefficiencies in the outpatient system. Hospital carparks are jammed with cars arriving at the same time and if patients were given specific appointment times, or even in 30-minute blocks, this would flatten the arrivals into parking areas.
Such is the deification of the NHS that it would be political suicide for any party that attempted reformation, however small. It will continue to be a drain on the national finances and put pressure on the economy, causing difficult decisions to be made on the allocation of funding to the NHS and other social needs such as elderly care.
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