Some Ideas

In respect of public sector pay, why not link increases to inflation? Better still, link public sector pay to the pay of MPs? This would surely eliminate the continual round of pay demands and negotiations.

However, that said, MPs can better weather foregoing pay increases than someone on minimum pay, so perhaps it's not such a good idea to link to MPs' pay. However, it could be an encouragement for MPs to limit their pay increases.

On the NHS - the population is getting older and living longer, thanks to new procedures that simply weren't available 10 or 20 years ago, let alone when the NHS was originally set up. This is heaping huge costs on the NHS, which are unsustainable for much longer without huge increases in taxation, which are not a vote winner.

Why not focus the NHS on preservation of life only, relegating procedures that improve one's quality of life to a system funded by a separate insurance scheme. The policy premiums for such a system could be linked to ability to pay. No more hip or knee replacements, for example, unless you've paid the insurance premiums for a minimum period. 

Unpalatable, I know, but how else can the rising cost be handled when people tend not to vote for tax rises? Yes, the additional insurance premium is a tax. but a tax you can choose not to pay, while ensuring the one you do pay can save your life. 

There is, of course, the attendant argument that such a policy would be the thin end of the wedge and it wouldn't be long before the entire system went to the insurance scheme. The question is, how to prevent that?