Beagle, I'll have to pull you up on "the black hole of NHS incompetence".
I agree the health budget is huge, and the analysis by many here of the relative budgets of departments, spending cuts required and where they may fall is spot on.
However
"the NHS is the cheapest system in the world producing the best health outcomes. The New York-based Commonwealth Fund ranks 11 advanced countries' health systems for cost and health outcomes. Britain spends $3,404 (£2,000) per head on health compared with the $8,508 (£5,001) by the open-to-new-entrants US system, with the other nine countries in between."
Taken from
The NHS is loved and efficient, so why the obsession with reform? | Will Hutton | Comment is free | The Guardian
Now, you can shoot the messenger, Will Hutton does have a particular angle. I personally think the NHS is trying to do too much, and in an undoubted age of austerity should do less. But
globally, healthcare costs are an issue. In the NHS, for all its faults, we have the most efficient system in the world.