Best party for the NHS

[Summerbay23]

AIBU to ask which party is best for the NHS?

Massively over simplifying politics (especially for the local elections where I think a degree of tactical voting may be necessary). But if you really want the NHS invested in, for a secure future (in terms of money, jobs for nurses, doctors and allied health professionals, reducing waiting times, improving facilities etc). Which party do you believe can deliver this (please give me some facts if you can). Thank you.

Green Party. They have been clear about wanting to protect the nhs and moving away from privatisation.

To add I’m also impressed by the Green Party plans for carers - free personal
care and more carers rights / pay which would massively reduce demand on the nhs.

Thanks @shouldntmattermilk was wondering about the Green Party and whether they would really properly invest or whether the green agenda would take precedence. I also think that I’m in an area with a 2 horse race (Lib Dem/Conservative) with a possible threat from Reform, which makes it very difficult.

But these are local elections. The NHS is a national issue. So not really relevant.

Yes, I hear you, but the local manifesto’s are largely a bunch of waffle so I guess I was using an issue I care about to help my conscience decide.

It depends what you think the right way of investing for a secure future is - for some that will include a degree of using private companies to provide services, partly or fully funded by insurance etc., for some it would be the government funding the whole thing out of tax.

if you are in England then the elections are for local government and the NHS doesn’t come into it, it’s more bins and potholes etc.

A party that promises (note, ‘promises’) to do XYZ at national level in a general election isn’t necessarily going to be the right party to look after your own area within its remit of planning, bin collections, social services, low traffic neighbourhoods etc. These are issues that will actually affect your day to day living in your local area. Find out what the candidates say they want to do in the roads around where you live and keep an eye on the national issues for when the next general election comes around.

Yep, they promise everything for everyone for free.

I'm more inclined to analysis proposed funding.

Sorry, but I wouldn't trust Green to organise a party in brewery

For a start they will tax the wealthy that will bring in huge amounts that can be put to good use.

You see this doesn’t work. Their ideas to ‘tax the wealthy’ are totally unworkable. I’m a chartered tax advisor and want better NHS services. I’ve read every manifesto and none of them will provide anything apart from a managed decline. We do not have the funds.

I have lived and worked in many EU countries where health services are excellent. These are funded partly via the state and partly via employers health insurance. My employer here in the UK pays lots to BUPA every month for cover for me. Every company I have worked for has done likewise and I have had many medical procedures covered by this insurance. I had an elbow operation - month from initial appointment to operation - and a friend of mine had to rely on the NHS for similar - it took well over 3 years.

Why on earth do we persist with the ridiculous notion that the current model is in any way adequate? Can’t we envision a successful model like they have all over Europe working here? Don’t we deserve to have proper medical services? Being made to feel grateful for waiting 3 years for a mundane operation is grim.

I loathe the way anyone asking for a change in the funding model to something that actually WORKS properly is labelled a Reform nutter clearly being passed brown envelopes by health insurance companies. These people need to grow up as our cancer stats are the worst in the western world. It’s disgusting and shameful. People are dying due to some false loyalty to a failing system, and an inability to ask for better. So OP vote none of the above. Ask for a European healthcare model that treats people in a timely, dignified manner, not the horrors that we currently have.

Depends how you feel about rights of women and Jewish people

Yup there’s that too. They’re too racist and misogynistic for my liking but that might fit your values OP.

The green party promise to protect the NHS but the country would be so unbelievably broken and bankrupt under their insane policies that it couldn't fund a packet of plasters.

What economic policies do they have which would work to channel more funding to the NHS? They have come up with no policies that are thought to be at all tax raising. They cry ‘wealth tax’ a policy that has reduced the tax take wherever it has been tried, rather than raise any money. These people are economically illiterate.

It frustrates me massively as I want better public services, but laughably bad policies such as those of the Green Party would hugely damage the UK.

😂😂😂

Like wealth tax? we discussed this on another chat, last page
Keir Starmer has warned us to prepare for inflation in a recent speach. | Mumsnet

I'm still waiting to hear the plan after wealth is all but disappeared

It most definitely does not so thanks for highlighting.

Thanks everyone, seems like I’m slightly over thinking in terms of the local elections so in a strange way this conversation has helped me decide.

I think Reform are the party that are looking to change how the NHS is funded

but I would never vote Reform

NHS is not worth saving, the service we get overall is very poor for a wealthy country, the NHS is embedded with poor management

I can not see Labour, Tories or Libdems promise of radical change and moving to an insurance payments system (like France/Germany not the US) just yet but with the publics dissatisfaction and concerns about the NHS I can see this happening in the next ten years. Would I vote Tory for this unlikely LibDems absolutely

The Greens

This is what I find really annoying. I think Keir wants the best for the UK and if tasked with implementing an insurance based, well funded, well operating healthcare system we’d have a great one, just like they have on the continent. Nigel is dodgy as hell and will sell us out to an American style system as soon as Reform get in, which they will as people are heartily sick of dire public services (like health).

I’d love a Keir healthcare but we’re going to get an American one just because the UK public is toyslky unwilling to face the fact that the NHS has failed. It’s just like welfare. Keir cannot get reasonable welfare reforms through his not very bright back benchers so we’ll get Reform in instead who will ditch each and every disabled person. Same as immigration. Instead of being such a soft touch Keir could follow the Danish socialist party’s more hardline stance on immigration which aims to protect the provision of public services to Danish citizens above all else. But he doesn’t so again we’ll get Reform in who’ll remove us from the ECHR.

Politicians who are too weak to take unpopular decisions leave extremists to make worse decisions.

I think the Green Party will bankrupt the country and make the entire system including the nhs combust

I agree with you post and that politicians are too weak to make unpopular decisions

I would like to see a cross party committee to work on healthcare reforms so it stops becoming such a political football

problem with that now is that Reform are likely going to have a number of seats in the the next general elections I do not feel they should be involved in healthcare reform (I don't expect Green to win that many seats)

I'd love to go back to the nineties where the NHS was concerned. I used to get same day GP appointments for regular stuff and if you had to wait till the next day for your appointment the receptionist would be so apologetic. However those days are gone now.

The sad truth is the UK is broke. We are honestly. Each month we borrow money to pay 'our bills'. We now probably have a limited amount of time to turn things around and it's going to take hard decisions and it's not going to be pleasant.

At the moment we can't afford to spend more on anything like the NHS and we know it isn't working at the moment with current funds.
We should be putting all our efforts and money into growing the economy and creating jobs for youngsters. The country is crying out for tradesman and how about jobs defending our borders/country. If we don't grow our economy there is no hope.
At the same time we need to get our debt under control as we have scary amounts and interest rates are going up (UK charged by markets I mean).

The only borrowing we should be doing is to invest in things that will improve the economy of the country. All other borrowing should be stemmed. So that means cuts to welfare, NHS and yes the state pension triple lock will have to go.

If the UK ever gets back to being prosperous with a strong economy, good growth, controlled inflation and reasonable debt then we could revisit our public services.

We need to start spending according to how wealthy we are. Not how wealthy we were.

It was only 80 years ago there was no NHS or welfare system. It's not unthinkable.
Prior to that you only got a doctor if you could pay.

Taxing wealthy people can be done but it's a short term solution.

I'm actually voting reform as they seem to be the only party who has stood up and said the NHS can't go on the way it is. We need change. This is not a vote winner is it. It is however the truth.

(I agree with their other policies too)

Any move to the left be it the greens or a new labour leader who is more left leaning will be viewed with alarm by the markets as this would indicate spending will go up and nothing will be learned. Then it is only a matter of time before the IMF take over and bail us out with stringent conditions

It's going to be very tough whatever party comes in. We have enjoyed good public services and a good standard of living for the last 40 years. Unfortunately since 2008 we have been very much resting on our laurels. We can start paying the piper now (reform) or we can keep burying our head in the sand and wait for the IMF.

We need a new system, the NHS isn’t sustainable.

I would love a party to come in and magically fix the NHS, sadly I think it’s beyond repair.
We need to be looking at European countries with good health services and implementing something like that here.
We also need to prioritise and incentivise training British people as nurses, doctors etc and then prioritise hiring the British staff we have trained before foreign workers.
I don’t think any party fully covers this but Reform probably come closest.

Local elections though I would look at which candidate you think will do best for your local area, what party they’re in is less important