The NHS

The Health Service and Brexit

"​30,000 nurses could be deported under Tory migrant rules"
https://www.rt.com/uk/268897-nurses-deported-tory-migrants/

The NHS is coming under more and more budgetary pressure, with our ageing population requiring more care for longer, and with the cost of care increasing faster than inflation. Successive governments have tried to keep the cost down, and have actually done a fair job:

"Health care expenditure in the United Kingdom as a share of GDP, although it has increased, is low in comparison with other European countries...[at] 6.9% of GDP which is amongst the lowest in the European Union {7.7%}". Despite this "most health indicators in the UK population rank within the EU average."
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/workingpapers/saco/pdf/101_en.pdf (this is a PDF)

However costs will continue to increase - and Brexit is already contributing with the fall of the pound. All sides agree that an economic downturn is coming and tax receipts will fall, so there will be even less money for the NHS (which is 95% tax funded).

So the announcement by Mrs May that nurses will be thrown out with the rest of the migrants could in fact be a stroke of genius. Not only does she reduce migrant numbers significantly (4% of NHS nurses are EU immigrants - and numbers are increasing as fewer nurses are being trained here https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-nhs-staff/) but the reduction in staffing will provide appreciable savings.

Note that doctors are currently not going to be thrown out - though this is because they are paid more than nurses (Mrs May is only chucking out people on low pay). However she may be looking ahead - with fewer nurses some wards will need to close, so fewer doctors will be needed - and then she can start chucking them out too, saving even more money.

Am I being ironic?

I hope so.