My plan to solve the NHS cash crisis

THREE weeks. That’s how long people will soon have to wait for a GP appointment, according to predictions from the BMA. Three weeks is ludicrous, and the public deserves better.

It will also only push more people to overstretched A&E. So, what’s to be done? I don’t think the answer is simply to pump more money into the Health Service. The evidence suggests this doesn’t help unless it is targeted.

But there is a good argument to raise spending on the NHS so it’s in line with that of most other European countries. However, I think this needs to be done with very clear objectives: it means increasing spending on primary care and prevention, and mental health. The amount spent on mental health is considerably out of kilter with the amount it costs the economy.

But at the moment, politicians dare not increase taxes. Equally, they don’t want to admit the NHS has to ration things — so they’re stuck.

The unwelcome truth is that healthcare is costing more, and we have to get the money from somewhere. Either it’s going to come through direct charges for those who use services or through higher contributions from all of us.

If we plump for the latter, that means raising taxes. People understandably object to higher taxes because they don’t see the direct correlation between what they pay and the services their taxes fund. Currently, the NHS is largely funded from taxation with a small amount from National Insurance.

The solution is to create a specific ‘NHS tax’ for the NHS and social care — similar to the way that National Insurance was introduced in 1911 to provide a safety net for workers when they fell on hard times.

It would have to come with a guarantee that the money was used only for the NHS and social care, and it would only work if there were a corresponding drop in general taxation.

People would still be giving the Government money, of course — but I think most wouldn’t object to paying a tax they knew was ring-fenced for the NHS.

It would also help challenge the idea that the Health Service was somehow ‘free’, so perhaps people would be less likely to miss appointments when they saw the ‘NHS tax’ leave their pay packet. We have to pay for healthcare one way or another.