Reading Robert Peston's WTF - he certainly agrees with the PPM problem. He feels there is a tiny number of top UK companies with great managers, but that most of the rest are well below the EU average, and hence the UK's poor productivity.
Having said that, and despite its poor funding, the NHS comes top or close to it in any comparisons of international health outcomes. But it has too few beds, and too few staff - both cost money. Picking up the pieces for social services is a separate issue, but social services themselves are also being starved of funds.