How the NHS will die
In the explosion of “self-pay” procedures, we are witnessing the beginning of the end
Mark Hellowell
The financial pressure facing the NHS has never been greater. The decision to cancel all nonurgent operations in January signals that it can no longer guarantee universal access to comprehensive care. Nurses are leaving in droves, and below the radar, the status of the NHS as the habitual provider of medical services to the great bulk of British citizens is beginning to crumble, with more patients going private— even for things like cancer care. For 70 years, the idea that the NHS is “there for us all” is what has sustained it politically, and so here, perhaps, we are starting to see the outlines of an endgame for the service.
Nobody in the political crucible yet puts it that way: it would provoke outrage. Instead, voices are being raised in favour of a Royal Commission to examine health funding, including sources beyond taxation. The idea has been proposed by the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies and has won support from the Sun, the Mail, the Telegraph and several Conservative MPs.