Health
The core principle behind the NHS is that free healthcare be available for all, regardless of wealth. With the exception of some charges heath care at the point of delivery is free. However there are multiple agencies involved in health care services - the NHS which receives £116bn of funding (2015/6) and Local Authorities in the provision of social care, and various charities supporting specialist health issues.
The NHS itself (and the focus of New View Market Services attention) employs over 1.6m (MacDonalds in comparison employs 1.7m globally). In England it employs 1.3m. The Department of Health provides strategic leadership and funding for health and social care. NHS England owns leadership for improvement of outcomes and quality of care; oversees the Clinical Commissioning Groups - CCGs- (allocating their resources) and commissions primary care/specialist services. The CCGs are responsible for commissioning healthcare services for their locality - and account for 60% of spending.
Since 2010 there has been an increase in budget of 7.3%, although the NHS has had to find efficiency savings. This has not been sufficient for the NHS, with many CCGs running budgetary deficits. Increased use of A and E, an aging population, efficiency savings and an increasingly litigious society have all stressed the budget - and delivery of service. Additional funding was committed to the NHS in the spending review.