Economics is the discipline that deals with the analyses of behaviour when scarcity exists. There is no doubt at the moment, that following the recent economic crises in the UK, there has been considerable anxiety about how much and in what way we can continue to spend money on the NHS. Central to this debate is the belief that in many instances the benefits are not coming through in the significant ways one would have expected. There are signs that disillusionment reigns and the recent NHS reforms will not make things better, and could even make things far worse. The Observer (2011) recently published the findings of an opinion poll by 'YouGov,' the first of its kind to gauge opinion on the controversial shake-up, which suggested that a recent push by ministers to sell the plans to NHS users had fallen largely on deaf ears. Only 27% of people apparently back moves to allow profit-making companies to increase their role in the NHS. The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, plans to allow groups of GPs in England to commission pound80 billion per year for care of their patients from April 2013, and from 'any willing provider'.
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