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

• UK NHS facing ‘existential threat’: Experts
  

  UK NHS facing ‘existential threat’: Experts

  The British Medical Association warns the healthcare system is collapsing.

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.

• UK doctors strike, patients suffer, govt. looks other way
  

  UK doctors strike, patients suffer, govt. looks other way

  Thousands of junior doctors in the United Kingdom launched their third round of strikes this week, after labor forces in other industries walked out of their jobs, signaling the government’s inability to put an end to the long-running dispute over payments amid skyrocketing inflation.

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

• Long and deadly delays facing patients in the NHS
  

  UK health crisis: NHS care delays caused 112 deaths, harmed 8,000 last year

  England’s medical treatment delays related to the NHS harmed 8,000 people and caused 112 deaths last year, a British daily paper revealed.

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.

• UK junior doctors’ strike will have ‘catastrophic impact’ on healthcare: NHS chief
  

  UK junior doctors’ strike will have ‘catastrophic impact’ on healthcare: NHS chief

  The four-day strike by young British doctors is expected to have a ‘catastrophic impact’ on the National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists, says the chief executive of NHS confederation.

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

• Four in 10 UK hospitals use outdated medical equipment
  

  Four in 10 UK hospitals use outdated medical equipment: Study

  Four out of 10 UK hospitals use outdated medical equipment, according to a new report.

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.

Massive march to defend underfunded UK health service

Massive march to defend underfunded UK health service

Thousands of health workers have taken to the streets of the British capital London in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and conditions.

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