The NHS Is Failing Because It’s Not Public Enough
Right-wingers use today’s NHS shortcomings to argue that a public health system doesn’t work. But its failings stem from decades of pro-market reforms.
The last four decades of neoliberal consensus have skewed the governing model of the National Health Service and warped its original principles. (Allan Rostron / Flickr)
The National Health Service (NHS) is facing unprecedented strain. Waiting lists stand at almost 6 million. There are workforce shortages in almost every health profession. And estimates suggest it will take more than a decade for cancer performance to reach pre-pandemic levels.
As struggles mount, a pernicious argument is gaining pace on the libertarian right. They contend that the health service struggles to provide world-class outcomes because of its progressive founding principles. The demands of the twenty-first century, they say, mean we must move away from Nye Bevan’s model of “free at the point of delivery, based on need, funded through general taxation.”
The focal point of this argument is the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Annabel Denham, the institute’s director of communications, recently contended:
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