MiP believes the NHS is underfunded. With a growing and ageing population, funding has failed to keep up with demand for many years, and the consequences are there for all to see. We know that money won’t solve every problem, but if we’re not prepared to spend the same as other countries do, our health and care services cannot deliver what we expect from them.
Since the 2015 election, MiP has been campaigning to increase the share of our national resources we spend on health and care in the UK. If we raised spending to the same level as France and Germany – around 11% of GDP – we would have an extra £23bn to invest in our NHS. We don’t see why British people deserve to have less spent on their health and care than our French and German friends.
As it approaches its 70th birthday, the NHS remains a remarkably efficient healthcare system. It provides high-quality universal care, free at the point of use, for a fraction of the cost of private health systems in countries like the US. It has huge public support, dedicated staff and a public service mission that is second to none – loving the NHS is part of what it means to be British. But it cannot be run on goodwill alone. If we want the NHS to be all it can be, we need to fund it properly.
As part of our NHS funding campaign, we're asking MiP members to talk about their personal experiences of managing NHS services under financial pressure.
Following the inconclusive 2017 general election result, here are MiP’s challenges to the new government – however long it lasts.