‘Things can only get better?’ - the argument for NHS independence

Part of the problem with the NHS is that health care is so important to the general public that politicians have no choice but to intervene. From Margaret Thatcher’s “the NHS is safe in our hands” to Tony Blair’s “one day to save the NHS”, politicians from all major political parties recognise that the NHS is an acid test of their performance in government. In many ways, of course, political involvement in the NHS is desirable and necessary – in a parliamentary democracy like the UK, it is entirely right that our elected representatives should have a key role to play in ensuring that the NHS delivers high quality services to those in need and that significant sums of taxpayers’ money are invested wisely for the collective good.