The NHS can never seem to get it right. More money, more staff, more reforms, but still in debt. We’ve all experienced it ourselves -- be it through job-matching disasters, endless patient complaints, or simply the grim tales we read in the newspapers. With a new Prime Minister expected to lead us out of the quagmire, and the melee of job cuts, ‘polyclinics’ to deliver more care in the community, and suggestions of even more patient-choice centred initiatives, changes are again on the horizon. Are we prepared to limp onwards into financial A&E, meeting vapid targets and paying for the thicket of administration shrouding the roots of the problems? Or will the drive for productivity and efficiency eclipse our ultimate goals of social welfare in healthcare? Is a private competitive market soon to be less than a long-haul flight away? Or can we combine the principles of both systems to maximize both cost-efficiency and national health? That remains to be seen, but any new policy, first and foremost, must attempt to reverse the damage done by a jaded public, fuelled by media sensationalism, and an increasingly disillusioned workforce -- at the end of the day, our national health service can only be as productive as those who work in and avail of it.