If Vincent’s parents never say ‘good enough’, it is because they cannot afford to. In the cold calculus of the state’s balance sheet, the mental health of a nation is a liability, not an asset. This is not cruelty.
It is economics. The tragedy unfolding in the corridors of Britain’s mental health services is not a story of compassion denied. It is a story of incentives misaligned.
The taxpayer subsidises a system that treats symptoms, not causes. The waiting lists elongate. The outcomes deteriorate.
And the bottom line? The bottom line is always the same: no one ever says ‘good enough’ because that would require admitting that the current level of funding is, in fact, enough. And that is a statement with no political capital.
The market has spoken. Capital is fleeing the NHS mental health trust. Gilts are under pressure.
Inflation in social costs is rising. The cure is not more money. It is fiscal discipline.
Only when the budget constraint is binding will efficiency emerge. Until then, we will continue to pay for a system that demands more but delivers less. That is the tragedy.
Not the lack of sympathy. But the lack of a credible fiscal anchor.
