Originally Posted by
Mike T
Because it means you have treated the people coming in in a shorter period of time. Of course the assumption is that the supply of patients is constant, which is false as the population is growing and ageing, so in fact demand is increasing, not constant. The NHS has considerably shortened its length of stay over the years, which fits with Friedman's observation, but his explanation of what this means is wrong. Hospitals are only meant to have 85% bed occupancy maximum, for efficiency and infection control - some at the moment have 104% - yes more patients than beds, hence patients on trolleys/chairs/on the floor/stuck for hours in ambulances.
This is planned failure so that the public will accept privatisation - and think of all the money making opportunities that involves. If you want to see how well this doesn't work look at the States health care system - about twice the cost of the NHS, far worse outcomes, a lot of people are not covered, and health care bills are a very common cause of bankruptcy.