The direct relationship between a struggling NHS and the economy

[SophLad]

Long term sickers up 25% (to 2.5m) since the pandemic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63204333

[Protheroe]

Using the trend in long term sickness you could argue that the years 2010-2020 were a golden time for the NHS compared with much of the Blair premiership.

So is it a direct relationship, or isn't it?

[Derek Hardballs]

Who knew that ‘getting back to normal’’ ‘anti-mask’, ‘anti-vaccine’ types would not employ joined up thinking to their ludicrous libertarian ideology.

Oh and to Proth’s point it seems it took a while for the cuts to public health and the wider NHS to really fuck things up.

[Protheroe]

"Cuts"

If every government department had been "cut" as much as the NHS pubic spending would've been out of control years ago.

[Derek Hardballs]

"Cuts"

If every government department had been "cut" as much as the NHS pubic spending would've been out of control years ago.

You don’t really do joined up thinking I appreciate. 

Tories cut a lot of public health provision local / in the community and this has disproportionately affected the poorest and most vulnerable. The poorest were put into the Covid firing line with the types of jobs  they do or did with very little protection. Quite the contrary with libertarian idiots lobbying for less and less protection. Job uncertainty causing stress to millions. Add that to the disaster that is social care, mental health services, telling people via Brexit they aren’t wanted and ten years of austerity and you now see where we are as a country. 

The sick man of Europe…

[Protheroe]

So there's no direct link then, just another opportunity for a polemic. Glad we cleared that up.

[Derek Hardballs]

So there's no direct link then, just another opportunity for a polemic. Glad we cleared that up.

Just a list of what has happened and why we are where we are, not a polemic.

Clearly there is a link but you must have your marsk over your eyes

[Protheroe]

Spot the #directlink. It actually seems to have been an inverse link for a decade if what you claim about the effect of "cuts" is true...

[SophLad]

The clear and worrying trend is not how long term sickness bumbled along with fluctuations of c.10% during the austerity years; it's got to be about the post covid trend of a 25% increase in 2 years whilst access to NHS services is severely constrained. Of course, if you create a pension system which actively disicentivizes consultant staff to work overtime and then offer the remaining staff a 1% 'payrise' (a 9% cut) then I think its safe to assume that the amount of people who are going to be getting sick (and moving towards poverty) is only going to get worse.

Cutting the NHS budget is straight out of the Anti Growth League playbook.

[Protheroe]

Don't disagree with the incentives to medics. Several of my friends are GPs who are either part time or have retired early due to the crazy rules around pensions.

You can also see where Labour chucked an enormous amount of people onto long term sickness benefits so they didn't appear on the unemployment register.