title: Health policy. Time to turn the tide.
abstract: The government should not increase funding to the NHS until it can be demonstrated that this will improve population health and that the money cannot be made available from reducing current inefficiencies. The absence of an information base in the NHS is one of the greatest challenges. The new administration needs to acquire a deeper understanding of how resources are being used. New untested organisational structures and policy stunts should be avoided. Waiting lists should be prioritised according to urgency and ability to benefit.
authors.affiliation: York Health Economics Consortium, York University, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maynard
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sheldon
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005380:Financing, Government; D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013222:State Medicine / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006113:United Kingdom; D014850:Waiting Lists