I agree there is waste in the NHS but the waste I see is in terms of how private companies rip off the NHS. For example, buying a laptop, we have to go through the supplier which won the bidding process, which usually then charges 3 times more for a laptop I could go and buy from Curry’s. But we can’t do this… we have to buy it from the approved company.
But I suspect the private company probably includes the support cost in buying the laptop, insurance and other stuff, so its not a fair comparison to say you can just buy it cheaper in the shop, although if it is three times more, the private company is taking the mickey.
The idea of out sourcing your IT to a private company makes sense for organisations which do not have large buying power. If you only order 500 laptops a year, it might cost you £1000 per laptop, but a private company who is buying 50,000 laptops a year can buy it for £600 a year. The idea is that the private company can now sell the laptop to your organisation for £800. They are making £200 profit, and you are saving £200. So this is a win win scenario. The private company has made some profit, and your organisation has saved some money.
Sadly it is not as simple as above, but it gives a good idea how it is supposed to be a win win for both parties when they agree to outsource something.
As for the NHS itself, and other local services, I feel that they all do the best they can, and I am sure they are just as upset as anyone that it takes them 2.5 hours to get to someone in need, instead of 15 minutes. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, and as soon as you start talking about raising taxes, it makes it easy for the opposition to get people not to vote for you. Taxes need to raise to cover the additional costs incurred by the NHS, but how do you stick that on a campaign sticker saying your going to pay more tax, but at least the NHS will get more money.
I think this is why the leave argument for Brexit was so good, it was literally promising free money for the NHS, which was not going to cost the regular person anything. Clearly that slogan was not honest, because the NHS is not getting the extra £350 million that was promised, but it worked because it did not cost the voter anything.
You could try taxing large business more, but the challenge with large multi-nationals is they will just move their tax bases to somewhere else so you lose more tax revenue, than if it has been at the lower rate.
I like the idea of making people realize how much everything in the NHS costs. When you pick up your medicine prescription for £10, actually list how much it would cost if you had to pay full price. When you go in to hospital, and get treated for free, get a statement for how much it would cost. The NHS is free to use, but it is not free to run or maintain, and I don't think people appreciate this, and if you could get this message across better, it would make having a special NHS Tax easier to sell.