[starkd]

I think general survey results are probably a poor metric to use in evaluating the success of a healthcare institution. Sure, at any point in time, most people should be able to get what they need, but the serious cases, or anything out of the ordinary, is a much smaller percentage of cases for any given year. Anecdotes of waiting lists and the rationing of care (e.g. delaying services to the start of the next fiscal year when new money gets distributed) have been notorious for years now. This dissatisfaction only reveals itself over time, where it personally affects a greater swathe of the people. The pandemic accerlated this, but it shows how ultimately unsustainable it is.

Healhchare is tricky, because treatments are not one-size-fits-all. Large institutions are rigidly setup to deliver a product, a product that is ever changing, as new treatments are always being refined and added. When it was created it was set up to deliver products that were new 50 years ago, but the structure is inherently slow to evolve. But the private health insurance in UK does not have these problems. More effort could be made at growing the economy in such a way that rising incomes allow people to purchase the private health insurance. It's not an immediate answer for many, but it definitely beats throwing more money at a bureaucracy that cannot adapt.