The obvious answer to saving the NHS is to train and recruit more care workers in both the NHS and social care – which would not only (alone) meet current crying care needs but provide good professional human-interface jobs in the coming hi-tech age (killing two currently worrying birds with one stone). This does, however, mean raising more public revenue by getting people to pay more taxes.
But to achieve this we must first counter the common idea that providing something that people want, and raising the revenue to provide it by appropriate pricing, is a clear case of “positive wealth creation” if done in the private sector – not only creating wealth for the sector in question (which may be private healthcare, as in the US) but stimulating activity in the rest of the economy – but is simply a “negative burden” if done in the public sector.
Providing separate healthcare budgets, linking specific tax increases to specific public care improvements (disinterring what we need to pay for care from more general taxation), which I think Chris Ham is recommending, may be the best way to get people to focus on the real issues. But until the debilitating myth of private good / public doubtful is scotched, we will not reach square one in solving our current healthcare crisis.
Bernard Cummings
Erith, Kent
• It is now time for all opposition parties to combine to bring maximum pressure on the government to end the ever increasing and costly privatisation of the NHS and increase general taxation to pay for it. I think most people would agree to a tax that was hypothecated for the NHS and social care. Part of the problem the NHS is experiencing is due to bed blocking caused by such large cuts to social care.
Valerie Crews
Beckenham, Kent
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