The problem here is that facts can say whatever people want them to.

The BBC’s evening news yesterday (Sunday) referred to real-terms increases in NHS funding since the Conservatives came into office in 2010 of 1.2 per cent, rising to 2.25 per cent in 2016-17.

But the average since the NHS was founded is four per cent, so the Tories have lagged far behind.

You can see the difference in spending choices in the following graph:

The Tories have increased spending, sure – but by a miniscule amount compared with the previous Labour government.

But that’s not the whole story. As a percentage of GDP – the total amount of money made by the UK every year – spending on the NHS has suffered a sustained reduction – its largest ever – since the Tories arrived in 2010.

This is a deliberate attack on the healthcare available to the nation, at a time when demands on the service are increasing – partly due to other Conservative Party policies.

Cash-strapped citizens are eating unhealthily, adding to the possibility of health problems. Benefit claimants are being subjected to huge psychological stress by the Department for Work and Pensions, increasing the chances that they will suffer serious health issues. Working people, forced to try to survive while their pay is cut, in real terms, year on year, are also heading for health disasters. There are other government-related health issues.

And what is the result of these changes, forced on us by the Conservatives?

Theresa May has said the Tories have provided the NHS the amount of money they thought it needed – tacitly admitting that they have been underfunding the service badly:

But then, as one prominent doctor has pointed out:

No. We would have to have seen a plan to solve the issues that have caused the recent deaths, and we have seen nothing of the sort. Instead, Theresa May is planning to reward the Health Secretary who has enacted the policies that caused the deaths.

Oh really?

This takedown by Peter Stefanovic is excellent because it answers flannel with fact:

Some have suggested that Mrs May and Jeremy Hunt are simply refusing to accept the facts – that they believe their line that the NHS is better-prepared for what Mrs May calls “winter pressures” (she’s refusing to admit it’s a crisis). This is not accurate:

https://twitter.com/DancingTheMind/status/950045065451319296

https://twitter.com/DancingTheMind/status/949938943822319617

And the media are trying to stir up support for private health:

https://twitter.com/DancingTheMind/status/949936204195270656

Let’s just remember that we already pay for the NHS. It takes nearly 30 per cent of public spending (although a large amount of that now goes into the bank accounts of private health corporation board members, thanks to Conservative changes introduced by Andrew Lansley and David Cameron for no reason at all).

This is the best possible way of paying for the health of the nation, although the amount of public money being spent on it, and the uses to which that money is put, are varied depending on who is running the government. Clearly the current, Tory, model is one of mismanagement and waste.

Clive Peedell has the right idea:

But then, he’s a doctor, not a businessman. The Tories would never be interested in anything he has to say.

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