Dave: I don't fundamentally disagree with your main point; I've always been left of centre, although nowhere near as much as Corbyn. But FullFact.org has analysed NHS spending over the past forty years and reveals it in this graph:
[smg id=4135]
And demands on the NHS have changed fundamentally. We live in an era of an ageing population, who need more care and an era where new treatments mean diseases which previously killed people can be held back, allowing more people to live longer. That all comes at a cost. And the underfunding to which I alluded is real, as the UK comes 8th on a list of the world's ten best providers of intensive care beds per 100,000 population.
The US has 35 beds per 100,000 people, Germany 29, Italy 12.5, France 11.6 and so on, until we come to the UK, with 6.6 IC beds per 100,000.
You're right about high management fees, however. But I suppose running a Health Board isn't a walk in the park.