If the NHS was a privately owned company that didn't need to exist, it would've failed and ceased to exist decades ago.

Fortunately, it isn't privately owned but it is an essential service that absolutely does need to exist.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHS_trusts_in_England, the NHS is currently comprised of 217 "trusts" which employee about 800,000 of the 1.2 million total staff employed by the NHS.

The trusts are mainly comprised of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts but there are also NHS ambulance services​, Mental health trusts, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

Each trust is run independently and there are no economies of scale - everything is fragmented and there's no standardisation.

There's no blueprint to show "what good looks like" that each trust must adhere to and almost everything is dealt with in a piecemeal fashion - this includes websites, logos, naming conventions, signage, processes, procurement, infrastructure, medical equipment, staff uniforms, IT systems and apps etc.

For example - according to https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/categories/facilities-and-office-solutions/uniforms/nhs-healthcare-uniform, there are currently more than "30,000 different styles and uniform variations" across the NHS - standardising this alone would save millions.

The amount of paperwork and forms that still exist within the NHS is shocking and a serious concern - if Facebook can successfully service over 3 billion users worldwide, each with access to gigabytes of data which is stored electronically and securely accessible via your smartphone, tablet or laptop etc, then the there's no reason why the NHS can't securely store patient records for the 70 million people that live in the UK and make these accessible via a single app.

There are also thousands of smaller NHS practices and surgeries scattered across the UK.

By contrast, Sainsbury's is a privately owned company that doesn't need to exist - if it fails, it's highly unlikely the government would step in and pump in billions of pounds of tax payer's money to save it.

Like all major supermarkets that exist today, its continued success and indeed very existence is attributed to standardisation and central governance - it has a blueprint of what good looks like that every shop adheres to - each shop has exactly the same look and feel and is instantly recognisable.

There is one website, one app, one uniform, one logo etc - the website has a store locator that clearly states exactly which services are available at each store.

There is no ambiguity or deviation.

The NHS must use the same methodology and in doing so, would save billions!

For example - in Horsham, the following NHS practices and surgeries (in addition to Horsham hospital) exist:

• https://www.courtyardsurgery.com
• https://www.holbrooksurgery.com
• https://www.orchardsurgery-horsham.nhs.uk
• https://www.parksurgery.com
• https://www.riversidemedicalhorsham.co.uk
• https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/our-services/our-locations/78-crawley-road
• https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/our-services/our-locations/bluebell-house
• https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/our-services/hospitals-locations/county-hall-north
• https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/our-services/hospitals-locations/new-park-house

Horsham has a population of approximately 50,000 residents.

Horsham hospital and the nine NHS practices and surgeries that exist in Horsham (all of which are completely inadequate) could all be replaced by a single/new hospital centrally located within the town to provide healthcare services (including 24x7 A&E) to all 50,000 residents that live in Horsham with capacity to spare - all other towns/cities in the UK could do that same and the size and number of hospitals within each town or city being determined by the corresponding population in accordance with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ONS_built-up_areas_in_England_by_population.

The main problem is, all political parties (regardless of which one is in power) use short-term/tactical solutions which fail to address the underlying root cause of whatever the issue in question is - each government follows the "We can't polish a turd so let's just roll it in glitter" approach which is completely absurd.

There's currently no long-term/strategic solution for the NHS, just more glitter.

The purpose of this petition is to raise awareness and request the current government creates a long-term/strategic solution for the NHS that all future governments and the NHS must adhere to.

The solution must be a legally binding blueprint of what good looks like focusing on standardisation (eg one website, one app, one uniform, one logo etc) and central governance.

The current government and NHS should look at healthcare systems in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), Australia, Canada and the Netherlands as well as privately owned companies like Sainsbury's and take the best ideas from each in order to understand and define what good looks like actually is.

According to https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey/april-2015---march-2025-experimental-statistics, there are currently over 100,000 FTE vacancies within the NHS.

If all 100,000 FTE vacancies were filled tomorrow, the government would have to increase funding by at least another 1.8 billion pounds to cover this - this is assuming all 100,000 FTE vacancies were filled by 18-20 year olds on minimum wage (£10 per hour) working 37.5 hours per week.  In reality, this figure would be significantly higher because it doesn't factor pensions, sick pay, insurance and training etc or the fact that the average hourly rate would be much higher than £10.

Whatever the actual figure is, it's residual funding that the government should allocate but doesn't have to currently spend - the funding should be therefore be temporarily reallocated to kickstart this initiative.

Implementing it will then be self-financing with plenty of money to spare.