As a general rule, the state should over-supply services. There should be slack in the system almost all the time. Relaxed GPs with lots of time to talk to their patients. So many teachers that the main trouble is finding rooms for them all.
Not only does this see a better quality of service mostly, but it also cushions the system in the event of an unexpected shock.
If you have just enough professionals to deliver at 100%, you don’t have enough professionals.
@Tupp_ed Agreed. Resilience to surprise events e.g. COVID, Ukraine war, Afghan withdrawal is essential. However, the Tories seem to think everything has to be market tested/ contracted out. The end result - slow/ poor responses, higher costs, profiteering and a worse outcome for the country.
@jschwa1@Tupp_ed agree too - and when it comes to services which aren’t going to be profitable (e.g. rural public transport) the ‘market test’ results in the service being scrapped even though its essential for the people who use it - just because it doesn’t make money. This is where public ownership is essential- those loss making services can be subsided easily either from taxation or the ‘profit’ made on busy urban routes.
@Tupp_ed Yes. The mathematics of this is called Queueing Theory. You need "spare" resources to stop the queue growing. I don't have a link to the source, so take this with a grain of salt, but a few years ago a colleague demonstrated this with public health in the UK; there were 43 vets checking out Brit cow herds at 100% "efficiency". They needed 3 more to avoid a backlog growing. The result was billions of pounds wasted because they didn't stop mad cow disease in time.
Key principle: we need to allow for slack in processes so they can absorb delay, prevent burnout, but also have some reserves in the tank to deal with crises.
If @Tupp_ed wants to borrow my copy this can be arranged.
Another factor infecting taxpayer-funded public services is the Toyota Production Method (called Lean in North America).
It's predicated on minimalism in everything. Flat management. Limits on staffing. "Just in Time" Processes. Employee training replaced by manuals. Making the staff do the janitorial work.
Unpaid overtime to make up for inadequate staffing during vacations season, flu or hurricane season, or other "unexpected" events like pandemics.
@stancarey@Tupp_ed
Every year the HSE is pushed to breaking point by the entirely predictable and expected seasonal rise in influenza cases.
We have one of the highest pupil-teacher ratios in Europe.
We just stopped building public housing a decade ago, and we were deprecating it for years before.
But every party will campaign next election on cutting income tax and USC