[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

An unprecedented increase in “excess deaths” in England and Wales could be linked to underfunding in the NHS and social care system, new research suggests.

“Relentless cuts” to the health service could be behind 30,000 deaths in 2015, argued researchers in two articles published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

February this year http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7585001.html

And before anyone trashes the link, The research that backed up these findings was undertaken by highly credible academics.
https://www.rsm.ac.uk/about-us/media...cial-care.aspx

"After ruling out data errors, cold weather and flu as main causes for the spike, the researchers found that NHS performance data revealed clear evidence of health system failures. Almost all targets were missed including ambulance call-out times and A&E waiting times, despite unexceptional A&E attendances compared to the same month in previous years. Staff absence rates rose and more posts remained empty as staff had not been appointed."

"Professor Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The impact of cuts resulting from the imposition of austerity on the NHS has been profound. Expenditure has failed to keep pace with demand and the situation has been exacerbated by dramatic reductions in the welfare budget of £16.7 billion and in social care spending.”

It's hardly surprising that expenditure has failed to keep pace with demand. All those 100s of thousands of extra people coming in every year and using the health services that they have not paid into. Leaving aside those claiming benefits for now Just one earner in a low paid job paying a small amount of tax won't cover health care costs for him, his wife and children.

Some of it needed to be privatised to take the pressure off the service and produce better care. Over-spending on everything as Corbyn plans to do is likely to have significant negative long-term effects on our economy which will lead to austerity in the future. There are no easy solutions and no miracle cures with any party and to suggest anything different is irresponsible in my opinion.