I can't comment on the management quality. But I do think you have to look not only at spending, but also at the service coverage you're getting. For example, 20-odd years ago, when I lived in the UK, me and my wife needed to get jabs before going abroad. From the NHS, these were completely free at the time. In my own country (EU) we would have had to pay part of the cost of the jabs ourselves. My wife said this would have cost us about EUR 250. 

The plural of anecdote is not data of course, so my personal experience does not prove anything. Maybe the NHS is adequately funded but mismanaged, maybe it isn't. I have no idea. All I meant to say with my little example is that I don't think you can just look at macro data and conclude that the NHS is adequately funded. You need a thorough analysis done by competent healthcare economists. Probably such studies exist, but I don't know any.

Other factors that would modulate required funding:
1) Rates of unhealthy habits in the population (smoking, obesity, etc.)
2) Propensity for citizens to seek healthcare for every cut and sniffle
3) Aggressivenes of doctors in treatment selection

(Note that some of these factors can also bias the outcomes data making a healthcare system seem ineffective or underfunded when it is not.)

My experiences of UK A&E vs US, Germany, France, Argentina and Dubai (I might have forgotten one or two!) are:

1. Nurses in UK have a jobsworth chip on their shoulders
2. Doctors are good in UK, they don’t overtreat, seem to get it about right
3. A&E v busy (same in US). Other countries’ A&E almost deserted
4. There’s a lot of health tourism in UK. Anyone treated for free, even though foreigners are supposed to pay and the NHS never send bills!
5. People go to A&E for trivial things
6. The British fondness for alcohol doesn’t help

I don’t think throwing more money will help all that much.

My experiences of UK A&E vs US, Germany, France, Argentina and Dubai (I might have forgotten one or two!) are:

1. Nurses in UK have a jobsworth chip on their shoulders
2. Doctors are good in UK, they don’t overtreat, seem to get it about right
3. A&E v busy (same in US). Other countries’ A&E almost deserted
4. There’s a lot of health tourism in UK. Anyone treated for free, even though foreigners are supposed to pay and the NHS never send bills!
5. People go to A&E for trivial things
6. The British fondness for alcohol doesn’t help

I don’t think throwing more money will help all that much.

Obesity is the major killer (high risk factor in all cancers and CVDs). Also, STDs/STIs are on the rise. For the NHS budget, though, the major killer is the growing lifespan (more precisely, the life expectancy curve rectangularisation, i.e. more and more people will achieve the age of 90 - the newspapers' revelation that we will live to say 150 years of age by 2020 are erroneously calculated from the life expectancy at birth) combined with non-deadly diseases, such as arthritis. The last problem will be partly fixed for some time when the post-war baby boomers die.

https://fullfact.org/health/health-tourism-whats-cost/

"So-called 'health tourism' costs just 0.3% of NHS spending"

Investors continued to sell U.S. dollars on Thursday as they viewed Mario Draghi’s focus on growth and comparatively mild emphasis on the strong euro as an endorsement of recent moves in the forex market. Although the ECB’s apathy does not mean that policymakers in other countries are not concerned, until their concerns are vocalized, investors will attribute their lack of comment as a lack of concern about their currencies. We’ve already heard from Swiss National Bank President Jordan who said they are ready to intervene in the FX market if necessary. However the longer these uptrends continue, particularly in AUD and NZD, the greater the risk of jawboning by other central banks.

I can't comment on the management quality. But What i think was Healthcare should be high quality and cost-effective. http://www.jmfl.com

Lord Darzi review report

Thanks - interesting read.

Lord Darzi review report

Thanks - interesting read.

I couldn't read past "...leading progressive think tank"

Lord Darzi review report

Thanks - interesting read.

I couldn't read past "...leading progressive think tank"

I skim read mostly to filter the unnecessary bull. These are management consultancy reports where every word costs, rather than scientific papers where every word means something.

It's badly written IMHO. And too many commas.
The word 'patient' is mentioned a lot but 'customer' only once.

I noticed some of the recommendations on p.17

Introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol on the same basis as Scotland.
Expand the scope of the sugar tax to include milk drinks, cakes, biscuits, and confectionary

They do use the Harvard comma, but it should be  confectionery (e not a)

Thanks - interesting read.

I couldn't read past "...leading progressive think tank"

What is the conservative thinking on the future of NHS, Paul?

I have no idea! All I know is that it won’t involve me paying single handedly for all 70 million people, which I think will be the Labour and Lib Dem plans.

Who cares what they will do with the NHS. They promise to ban all ivory, not just from elephants, and the fox hunting.