Successive conservative governments have introduced a fake internal market into the NHS, deliberately fragmenting the previously integrated system and forcing t

Successive conservative governments have introduced a fake internal market into the NHS, deliberately fragmenting the previously integrated system and forcing the severed parts to sell services to each other. The money they use to buy services from their former colleagues all comes from their individual budgets, which is centrally funded from taxation. They still don't bill patients, they just furiously do pointless paperwork to swap tax money behind the scenes. Prior to this, it was a more integrated system, where all staff just worked for one central entity - the NHS - and were just paid a salary. Medical supplies, drugs etc... were all centrally procured, as required. Turns out that if you're buying drugs for 65 million people, you can get amazingly good deals from pharmaceutical companies and quickly build up incredible procurement expertise. This is all thrown away once you smash it up, though.