The National Health Service is drifting towards its 70th birthday in an enfeebled state. Hospital trusts are unable to meet their spending obligations: a deficit of £960m was recorded for 2017/18 – nearly twice the expected figure of £496m. There are now 93,000 NHS posts unfilled – 1,518 visa applications by foreign doctors were rejected in the four months to March.
There is no mystery about the source of these maladies. In the latter case, the government’s arbitrary net migration target of “tens of thousands” a year (which Theresa May has long championed) severely restricts non-EU immigration. Though the target has never been met in the 97 months since it was proclaimed, it has imposed severe costs.
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