The NHS is facing an ‘existential threat’
Britons treat their national health service, better known as the NHS, with an almost religious reverence.
We grow up using the NHS from the cradle to the grave ... and that has tremendous significance for our lives.
Dr Ranjeet Brar, NHS Consultant and Surgeon
But today this eternal source of national pride is under increased scrutiny, with new figures showing more than 120,000 people died last year in England alone from delays in life-saving treatment.
The NHS is a state funded healthcare system founded in 1948. At the time, it cost around $20 billion in today's money to run.
Last year, the government spent more than 181 billion on the NHS, despite which more than 7 million people are now on the waiting list in England alone.
That's nearly 12% of the population having to wait at least 52 weeks for a health consultation.
Our politicians aren't really serving the public interest, they are serving a neoliberal agenda, which is to transfer the country's natural assets and wealth to overseas corporations like the United Health of America and other big multinationals.
Dr Bob Gill GP, Author, The Great NHS Heist
The government has promised to cut the long queues, but has made little progress; the situation is no better in the rest of the United Kingdom.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, one in 80 people, and in Wales, one in 20, are forced to wait more than a year for treatment.
There's also the soaring cost of energy and inflation that have reduced the value of the NHS budget, meaning it now has to do more with significantly less.
This is compounded by a shortage of staff, which means more pressure on exhausted employees.
We've had more than a decade of defunding since the financial crash. This has led to a real-terms wage cut for staff.
The whole population, the health needs have gone up. We have trouble keeping hold of staff.
And we've also lost significant capacity with the NHS through privatization, so we don't have enough beds, we don't have enough staff, and the staff we do have are being treated appallingly.
Dr Bob Gill GP, Author, The Great NHS Heist
The health service is also coping with an aging population. A large number of people now live with chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
The COVID 19 pandemic severely tested the NHS with its aftermath still posing serious challenges.
Health officials and experts warn that for the UK National Health Service to survive, the next government should declare it a national emergency.
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