Ailsa Swarbrick at Schloss Leopoldskron taking part in her first Sciana meeting Ailsa Swarbrick at Schloss Leopoldskron taking part in her first Sciana meeting

Ailsa Swarbrick - What we talk about when we talk about tax

19 Sep 2018
by Oscar Tollast

Sciana member Ailsa Swarbrick has assessed what we mean when we talk about tax as part of an article for the Health Foundation.

Swarbrick is the director of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) National Unit, based in the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London.
She is a member of the 2018 Sciana cohort and attended her first meeting at Schloss Leopoldskron, in Salzburg, in June 2018.

Writing about the Health Foundation and Institute for Government debate, “Is it time for a hypothecated tax to the fund the NHS?” Swarbrick argues, “As with love, tax meant different things to different people: ‘pragmatic’ hypothecation or ‘hard’ hypothecation (we all use Brexit vocabulary now), UK national insurance, compulsory health insurance (as in Germany and the Netherlands), income tax, wealth tax and, perhaps controversially, taxing elderly people.

“The subject was technical, but the debate quickly moved into deeper terrain, striking a chord with those of us who work in health day-to-day. The discussion focused on ends rather than means, prompting questions about what we really value. And on that subject, there was a heartening convergence.”

Read her blog post in full here.

Meet the Partners

Sciana: The Health Leaders Network is a programme supported jointly by the Health Foundation (UK), Careum (CH) and the Bosch Health Campus (DE) in collaboration with Salzburg Global Seminar.