Well it is not easy to have a sensible conversation about the NHS. It has been likened to a new religion here in the UK.

It does eat up money. No matter how much it is given there is always a need for more. We all have to decide how much we are prepared to pay for it.

++

"Setting the first NHS budget in 1948 was no easy task. The Beveridge report, the 1942 blueprint for the welfare state, suggested £130m.

But as the appointed day grew closer estimates varied, from £108m in the 1944 white paper, then £122m in various cabinet papers, and £134m in the NHS bills laid before Parliament. Some independent estimates put the cost at nearer £230m.

In fact, price rises, higher standards and simple errors in forecasting demand and costs meant that for the full financial year the actual spend turned out to be £373m - in today's prices this was equivalent to around £10.5bn, around a tenth of the NHS budget in 2007."

Data briefing: why NHS budgets have always been a bugbear

++

I even heard recently that Beveridge expected costs to fall as people became healthier. How wrong was he?

Ideally there needs to be cross party agreement on planning for health and social care. I don't think that is likely in my lifetime.