NHS spending is higher than ever. Why isn’t it working?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
NHS spending has reached record highs and shows no sign of slowing down. The government poured in £205 billion last year, yet waiting lists remain stubbornly high and patient satisfaction is at an all time low. So where is all the money going? And if spending isn’t the solution, what is?
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Guests:
- Eleanor Hayward, Health Editor, The Times.
- Tom Calver, Data Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producers: Callum Martin and Micaela Arneson.
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: Why doesn’t ever-growing money seem to improve the NHS
Further listening: Is your sofa toxic?
Clips: BBC, The Guardian, Rishi Sunak / LinkedIn, The Sun, Reuters, The British Library, The Department of Health and Social Care.
Photo: Getty Images
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:09.4 | We need to reform the NHS, to make it fit for the future. I will deliver a stronger NHS. |
| 0:19.9 | We should focus above all on the NHS. How's that going? Waiting lists |
| 0:26.4 | are still stubbornly high, patient satisfaction is low, staff complain of shortages and rubbish pay. |
| 0:33.6 | And yet over the last decade, politicians have been spending big on health. |
| 0:37.9 | It means extra money, significantly more money going into the NHS. |
| 0:42.7 | We believe in putting big sums now into the NHS. |
| 0:45.7 | The government is investing record funding into the NHS. |
| 0:50.6 | 205 billion pounds every year goes to NHS England, more than double what it was 15 years ago. |
| 0:58.4 | That is growth that massively outstrips inflation or other government departments in need. |
| 1:04.2 | So why isn't it some fabulous service that everyone using or working in is extremely happy with. |
| 1:12.3 | We're going to follow the money. |
| 1:22.9 | The story today, we're spending more than ever on the NHS. |
| 1:26.8 | Why isn't it working? |
| 1:36.2 | What I had in mind when we organised a National Health Service in 1946 to 1958, |
| 1:42.5 | and remember when we did it, you know, you younger ones, this is immediately |
| 1:46.7 | after the end of the Second World War. When we were out, Sir Winston Churchill then said, |
| 1:51.9 | a bunk up nation. But nevertheless, we did these things. And there is nowhere in any nation |
| 1:59.4 | in the world, any health service to compare with it. |
| 2:03.6 | Knight Bevan, the Welsh coal miner turned Labour Health Minister, remembered nowadays, mainly, |
| 2:08.8 | of course, for founding the NHS in 1948. But what we have now is far more complex and costly |
| 2:16.6 | than what he established. |
... |
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