It's a nickel & dimed hot potato that neither side wants to take the hit on now. Our 'left' (Labour) has moved right enough now that it is unrecognisable from the party that Blair led in the 90s. It took unprecedented levels of corruption, cronyism and flat out fraud from the previous Tory run government to change the winds - and honestly it's the same wind with a slightly more palatable odour.

Brexit did the service no favours. We used to be able to tap an increasing array of medical talent from the EU, which promptly plateaued then stagnated after the vote. Now we have more and more locums and agency staff that cost a bomb to keep up. Ironically, we are now seeing an marked increase of African and Asian staffers, which the racist idiots that voted Leave abhor.

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/what-has-brexit-meant-for-the-nhs/

Another major question is how Brexit affects the NHS workforce. New nurses arriving from the EU and EFTA states slowed to near zero immediately and dental recruitment entered a prolonged slowdown, exacerbated in both cases by a new language testing regime.

As with funding, both the politics and the actual impact of this were based on a longstanding problem caused by domestic short-termism: many key staff groups were in serious shortage seven years ago, and many still are. The reaction of successive governments has been to repeatedly reform visa rules to enable a very high rate of recruitment from Africa and Asia.

While I have no issues with the nationalities of the people there to make me well, it has led to shortcomings such as the Nigerian nurse scandal.

Along with the many, many strikes that have occurred - the argument for privatisation sadly becomes stronger. I'm actually on our work's healthcare plan as an employee benefit, something I have never experienced before. It's very nice for me, but it shows that my company does not trust the public system to ensure my continued fitness for work.

Big ramble there, sorry.