Reg, the State did not really use taxpayers' money to bail out private banks, but told the Bank of England to print the money electronically and bail out the banks, a few hundred billion pounds to be precise.
The money was printed out of thin air.
The NHS cannot be bailed out, as it has no Government bonds. The BoE can only "bail out" by printing money from thin air and buying Gov. bonds (and shares and things like that) from private companies such as banks.
The NHS has none of these.
Since becoming an acclaimed economist trouble-shooter yesterday night with a brilliant study on pension deficits, I can quite certainly inform you of the correctness of the above statement (the taxpayer cannot bailout anything, having no money to do so, only the BoE can, through printing it out of thin air).
hee hee
