NHS

A health service that spends every pound on patients, not on waste, outdated systems and avoidable overspend.

Our Vision

The NHS is Britain's greatest public institution. Upgrade UK believes that every person in this country deserves fast, reliable, world class healthcare, regardless of where they live, how much they earn, or what they need. We want to modernise the NHS so it works better for patients and staff alike, and so every pound raised through tax actually reaches the front line.

The Challenge

Waiting lists are at record highs. GP appointments are harder to book than ever. Staff are burnt out and leaving the profession. The system is struggling not because of a lack of talent, but because of outdated infrastructure, poor management incentives and a failure to invest in the right places at the right time. Meanwhile hundreds of millions of pounds a year are lost to waste that has nothing to do with patient care.


Pillar One

Cutting the Waste

Before asking taxpayers for more, the NHS should stop losing money on things that have nothing to do with treating patients. Here is where some of it currently goes.

£100m+
Spent on postage every year
NHS trusts in England spent over £100m posting letters in 2023 to 2024 alone, letters that often arrive after the appointment has passed. Source: TaxPayers' Alliance research.
£1bn
Lost to missed appointments
Missed hospital appointments (DNAs) are estimated to cost the NHS in the region of £1 billion a year in wasted clinical time and admin. Source: peer reviewed NHS research.
£3bn
Spent on agency and locum staff
NHS England spent around £3 billion a year on agency staff, well above the cost of employing permanent staff for the same hours. Source: NHS England financial reporting.

Figures cited are the most recent publicly reported estimates and will be independently verified before use in any campaign material. On top of these headline figures, the NHS also loses an unquantified but meaningful amount every year replacing mobility equipment such as wheelchairs, crutches and frames that are bought new instead of cleaned, refurbished and reissued.

Key Policies

  • Make the NHS App and email the default for appointment letters and results, with postal letters kept as an opt in for anyone who prefers them
  • Build a proper national equipment return and refurbishment scheme for wheelchairs, crutches and walking frames, so fewer are bought new each year
  • Use AI powered scheduling and reminders to cut missed appointments, following the trusts that have already shown this works
  • Set a hard target to reduce agency and locum staff spend by recruiting and training more permanent staff on fair pay
  • Publish trust level waste and efficiency data so taxpayers can see exactly where the money goes
Pillar Two

Fixing NHS Technology

The NHS spends heavily on technology that still cannot talk to itself. We need one connected system, built around patients and staff, not around forty years of bolted together software.

£12bn
Spent on the last major NHS IT overhaul
The National Programme for IT was budgeted at £6.2bn but ended up costing over £12bn, while delivering an estimated £2.6bn in actual benefit. Source: government and industry reporting on NPfIT.
13.5m
Doctor working hours lost a year to bad IT
The British Medical Association estimates 13.5 million working hours are lost by doctors in England every year because of inadequate IT systems and equipment.
£10bn
Already earmarked for NHS technology
A £10bn technology investment has been set aside for the NHS, intended to be ringfenced so it cannot be diverted elsewhere, an opportunity that must be spent properly this time.

Key Policies

  • One connected patient record that every GP, hospital, pharmacy and ambulance service can read and update, ending the reliance on paper, faxes and phone calls between departments
  • A single, simple to use booking and messaging system across the whole NHS, replacing the dozens of separate trust level systems currently in use
  • Procure technology on value for money, not on legacy contracts, and hold suppliers to real interoperability standards before they get paid
  • Design every new NHS system around patients and frontline staff first, tested with real users before national rollout
  • Ringfence technology budgets so they cannot be raided to plug short term funding gaps, the mistake that undermined previous NHS IT programmes

Why This Matters

A healthy Britain is a productive Britain. When people can see a doctor quickly, get the treatment they need, and return to work or education without delay, the whole country benefits. Every pound wasted on postage, missed appointments or IT systems that do not talk to each other is a pound that should have gone towards nurses, doctors and patient care. Upgrading the NHS is not just a health priority, it is an economic one.


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