The NHS is now the greatest concern by far for UK voters, according to the results of a Guardian/ICM poll published on 20 January 2015.


The NHS is now the greatest concern by far for UK voters, according to the results of a Guardian/ICM poll published on 20 January 2015.

31 per cent of those surveyed said that it was the single most important issue – a rise of seven per cent since autumn. This was followed by immigration at 19 per cent and jobs, prices and wages at 14 per cent.

While some believed the NHS was coping, 28 per cent believed it was struggling, not delivering as it should. And 36 per cent thought it was coping, but in danger of ceasing to exist.

Long delays in emergency departments and ambulance delays have been widely reported. Behind the scenes, GPs are largely feeling overwhelmed with work and many staff now feel deeply demoralised. King’s Fund chief economist John Appleby warned that “the situation is now critical.”

According to British Medical Association council chair Mark Porter, “behind the figures is a lack of the necessary investment to give every patient the treatment they deserve, in the emergency department or elsewhere in the system.”

There are various reasons, including the fact that people are, on average, living longer, increasing demand. But there are also other factors.

These include high levels of social inequality, which seriously affect public health, and a growth in stark poverty. These are linked with government policy.

The underfunding of social services, a worsening problem, makes it harder for someone with health problems but not requiring acute care to get home from hospital. A benefit system marked by delays and injustice does not help either.

One of the worst problems is that such a high proportion of NHS resources has been swallowed by ‘reforms’ aimed at intensifying competition and increasing opportunities for the private sector.

This has sometimes been accompanied by an approach to management that encourages a distance between decision-makers and those they supposedly serve, as well as frontline staff.

This is the fault of successive governments, but the current Coalition has pushed forward a programme of massive reorganisation and privatisation. Among other concerns, senior managers and top doctors sometimes spend much of their time bidding to carry on providing their services, rather than doing their core work well.

According to Caroline Molloy, writing in Open Democracy in October 2014, the costs of an expensive healthcare marketplace are huge. Estimates range from £4.5 billion to £30 billion a year.

The prioritisation of tax cuts for large corporations and rich individuals over increasing NHS funding, as well as keeping tax loopholes open, is another factor.

The need to shift more resources from hospitals to community settings, highlighted by numerous senior figures in the Department of Health and NHS, remains. But this is most likely to be safe and effective if based not on ideology but rather attention to the needs and views of patients, carers and frontline staff.

Ultimately, the problems facing the health service, which are of such concern to voters, are about society’s values and priorities.

Care for all, especially those who are marginalised and so more likely to fall ill, must be weighed against profit for a few, or exercise of power by politicians and senior officials. This includes seemingly endless ‘reforms’.

* More on the 2015 General Election from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015
Views expressed in news briefs and by commentators on GE15 are not necessarily those of Ekklesia.

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© Savitri Hensman is a widely published Christian commentator on politics, welfare, religion and more. An Ekklesia associate, she works in the equalities and care sector.