NHS and Health
The NHS consumes nearly a fifth of all government spending and still cannot get patients seen on time. That is the starting point. Health policy decides how long people wait for an operation, whether they can see a GP, how social care is paid for, and how a service consuming nearly a fifth of all government spending copes with an ageing population. Waiting lists, workforce shortages, mental health provision and the unresolved question of who funds social care are the recurring battlegrounds, and the performance of the department behind them is measured here against what it was set up to deliver.
The department responsible
Runs the NHS and social care, which between them touch every voter, swallow the largest single departmental budget, and never quite have enough beds.
The Broken State
Public services performance
How the services this department runs are performing now, against a pre-pandemic baseline. 3 worsening.
MPs scrutinising this most
By written questions tabled to the department this Parliament.
1. Jim Shannon Democratic Unionist Party6382. James McMurdock Independent5263. Helen Morgan Liberal Democrat5204. Dr Luke Evans Conservative4555. Mr Andrew Snowden Conservative408