Are Ministers Destroying the UK?

The NHS crisis is a good example to look at. Every government argues they know best for the NHS. It is an election nightmare for the British public, knowing who to trust. But what is the truth about the NHS and funding?

An article written by Broken Vows: Tony Blair - The Tragedy of Power written by Tom Bower is a very interesting read. Frank Dobson was the minister in charge of the NHS, appointed by Blair. He knew nothing about the NHS and it seems that he tore up all the advice and made many bizarre decisions that effectively committed money to the NHS with no guidance on where it was to be spent. An IT system at the time was estimated at £2 billion but cost £18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money. GPs were allowed to negotiate their own pay and conditions and amazingly they got a 26% rise in pay for fewer hours. How many of us would dream of that.

When Blair came to power the NHS budget was £34 billion. In 2012 it was £127 billion. Where is all that money going and why is the NHS gobbling money so much? Surely a firm of accountants should be called in to look at the books. I was told by a friend that a colleague inputting data on a data base for the NHS earned £100k. That is an incredible salary for a simple job.  I believe locums are paid £1000 a day and many nurses are bought in from agencies at 3 times the cost of an NHS nurse doing the same job.

Are the Tories any better? The answer seems to be no. They ring-fenced the money and offer another billion a year. It seems the solution for every government is to lob more money at the problem, to the detriment of many other departments.

But why should a minister ignore the advice of the civil service and force his/her own agenda, even though he/she has no experience. It seems to be normal practice, Gordon Brown raided pension funds, seemingly with no advice. David Cameron has introduced sweeping changes to obey Eu law that frankly even France and Germany ignored. Cameron even ignored advice of his top military in air raids in Syria, leading to one commander telling David that his experience in the Cadets did not justify his taking over. However, he did do. So Frank Dobson was not alone in introducing his own agenda regardless of outcome.

An argument is always that medical equipment is expensive but what is the truth? Military equipment is definitely expensive and costs have soared, but the MOD has managed on reduced budgets year in and on.

Why does the British public allow it?? Ministers make sweeping changes with little thought to the outcome. The UK should return to setting policy based on advice from the Civil Service rather than fame-seeking people with no common sense.