Asking some patients to pay for healthcare would be more popular than politicians believe, says TERRY MURDEN
Scottish Labour seems to have found the magic money tree. The health service will be safe in the party’s hands because there will be a fresh crop of pound notes to pluck every year. That seems to be the view of Dame Jackie Baillie, the party’s combative defender of the NHS and its principle of free care at the point of need.
Dame Jackie likes to tell dark tales of the SNP’s mishandling of our much-cherished care services, though for Labour the solution means regularly plundering the taxpayer for more cash to throw at a sector that will always be hungry for more.
The shadow Health Secretary has been calling out the SNP’s Michelle Thomson for having the nerve to suggest that people should be required to pay for NHS treatment. The nationalist MSP stated during a TV debate that “arguably, there are some things that those of us who are able to do so might be willing to pay for”.
Dame Jackie branded the proposal “jaw-dropping” and warned that the NHS’s founding principle of free care at the point of need is at risk under the SNP.
The only thing that is jaw-dropping is the failure of Labour to accept that we simply can’t continue to drain the taxpayer’s own limited funds to resource the NHS without some radical rethinking of our priorities.
Those who say the taxpayer has the means to fully finance public services point to Denmark which has among the highest taxes in the world. The Danes are happy to pay up in order to also have the best public services. It doesn’t work for everyone and convincing the British to make such a culture change would require the mother of all persuasions. Hiking taxes has never proved a vote winner on these islands, despite the occasional flirtation with left-wing notions of state intervention in everything we do.
Apart from jacking up taxes, the only way the NHS can get the money it needs is by taking it from other services or asking all of us to chip in a few quid. The evidence is mounting that those who can afford it would be prepared to do so. We already pay for dental treatment, eye care, foot care, osteopathy… why not pay to have someone put your broken leg in plaster?
As Labour itself states, the number of Scots turning to private healthcare has risen sharply in recent years as waiting lists spiral. In 2022 40% of all hip and knee operations in Scotland took place in the independent sector and 1,745 rounds of chemotherapy were paid for privately by patients. These figures are described by Labour as “shocking”.
Why shocking? Many people I meet say they are prepred to use private care for a range of ailments. That’s because they can. If it means getting treatment quickly and within their budget, then why not?
Furthermore, by encouraging those with higher disposable income to pay for treatments it frees up resources for everyone else, and therefore would cut waiting times. It’s a win-win.
There is also a case for investment from the private sector, for more outsourcing and sponsorship. The private sector already provides equipment, drugs and infrastructure. Sorry if the idea of private firms imposing a mark-up sends Labour’s front bench into a ducky fit, but this is the real world and we have to stop the fantasy politics.
Michelle Thomson has made a brave move stepping outside the political consensus which sees public funding and free access to the NHS as a sacred cow. She may have kickstarted a long overdue debate.
Brassneck politics
The SNP’s Westminster trade spokesman Richard Thomson needs to keep up to date with what is going on at the mothership.
He’s been throwing pelters at Rishi Sunak’s “Tory whisky tax”, accusing the PM of overseeing a sharp hike in duties on Scotland’s precious spirit.
Mr Thomson needs reminding that his colleagues at Holyrood imposed an even higher tax on whisky when the Finance Secretary Shona Robison raised the minimum unit price of alcohol.
Glass houses and stones, anybody?
Terry Murden held senior positions at The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Northern Echo and is now editor of Daily Business
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