Day: March 8, 2024

UK News: Economists say making the policy an election pledge could cost £40bn, which is badly needed for health, education and elsewhere

Rishi Sunak has been warned against fighting an election on an unfunded plan to abolish employee national insurance amid projections the move could blow a £40bn hole in the public finances.

As the pre-election battle on the economy between the Conservatives and Labour intensified, the prime minister was on Thursday under mounting pressure to explain how the measure could be afforded while public services were crumbling. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/T3pfRc

Campaigners say health service can’t provide care quickly because of underinvestment, which is allowing firms to ‘make a killing’

* Private healthcare could become ‘a new normal’ as NHS grows weaker
* ‘My GP suggested it’: Britons explain why they went private for surgery

Private hospitals are doing one in 10 of all planned NHS operations amid patients’ frustration at long delays for NHS care and political pressure to cut waiting times.

The new figures seen by the Guardian prompted campaigners to warn that the NHS is “allowing the private sector to make a killing” and is seeing more and more of its services “cannibalised” because years of underinvestment mean it can no longer provide care quickly. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/T3pf4V