Re: Money is the solution
I compared it to america because right wing politicians in paticular often hold up america as an example to be aspired to. Yes the various european systems are much better than the US which has by far the least efficient medical system in the developed world but the big picture is that the NHS is underfunded compared to say france and germany with only very slightly worse outcomes.
My main point is not that efficiency cannot be improved but that the only way that society will benefit from the full potential of increased medical technology is to spend more and that the efficiency of the NHS is not a significant factor in this.
PS. as an IT related aside Electronic Medical Record systems in the US for primary care typically have a feature which optimises doctors income by modelling insurance company algorithms that detect over/unneecessary treatment. They suggest extra services that doctors can be reembursed for to increase their billing but without triggering investigation/action from the insurer. Nice moral use of technology.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
