Press release: NHS management overwhelmingly endorses tax as fairest funding system for UK healthcare
23 May 2002
At the NHS Confederation annual conference, NHS management today endorsed tax as the fairest funding system for UK healthcare. Voting 89 percent to 11percent, they called for the debate to move on and focus on how to improve the NHS to ensure that it can provide high quality responsive services for patients. 90 percent of those expressing an opinion said that changes in the funding system would not address the problems facing the NHS.
Commenting on the vote, Confederation chief executive, Gill Morgan said, "NHS management is in no doubt that a tax-based system is the fairest way to fund healthcare in the UK. The real issue is not how the money is raised, but how it is spent."
She concluded, "there are no simple solutions, the key problem facing the NHS is capacity, a change in funding would make no impact on that. It is time to move the debate on and focus on to find ways of improving the quality and quantity of healthcare provided by the NHS."
Ends
Notes for editors
- The NHS Confederation's annual conference is taking place in Harrogate between 22 and 24 May 2002.
- The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts, health authorities and local health groups in Wales; trusts and NHS boards in Scotland; and health and social services trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
Contact details
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