- What is the main reason for the crisis in the UK NHS?
- What solutions have British politicians considered regarding the UK NHS crisis?
- What are the consequences of the crisis in the UK NHS in the UK?
- What is the role of the Covid-19 epidemic in the crisis in the UK NHS?
- What damage has the crisis in the UK NHS done to public trust?
The Health of Social Care Select Committee announced in the latest evaluation that the National Health Service of the UK is experiencing the biggest personnel crisis in its history. An article pointed to the deterioration of the British health care system and the long waiting period of patients for doctor visits.
Continued lack of staff in hospitals
According to the Health of Social Care Select Committee assessment, the NHS is experiencing the biggest staffing crisis in its history. The committee’s report states that continued understaffing poses a severe risk to staff and patient safety in routine and emergency care. British MPs wrote, citing figures from the Nuffield Trust, that the British National Health Service (NHS) is facing a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives. The waiting list for hospital treatment increased to a record 6.5 million patients in April this year. Accordingly, the goal of providing therapy within 18 weeks of 2016 has not been achieved.
The role of Covid-19 in the crisis in the UK NHS
The vast majority of medical experts on the crisis in the UK’s National Health Service believe that the current workforce cannot reduce the backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, the demand for services in the healthcare sector continues to increase. The UK Government will need 475,000 additional jobs in the health sector and 490,000 jobs in nursing in the next few decades.
Severe pressure and crisis in the UK NHS
UK’s National Health Service is entirely under pressure and crisis. According to statistics, around six million people, about a tenth of the UK population, are on NHS waiting lists. Several hundreds of thousands of these patients wait more than a year. According to official estimates, waiting times for patients are likely to get longer by 2024, as more people return to the doctor after lifting Covid-19 restrictions.
Behind the promise of the Government to hire health workers
According to the Health of Social Care Select Committee report, the Government has refused to take decisive action to deal with this issue. Of course, progress has been made in hiring nurses. However, former health secretary Sajid Javid himself admitted that NHS would not meet the target of recruiting 6,000 extra family doctors as promised in the Tories’ election manifesto. Meanwhile, in its latest statement, the British Health Secretary pointed to new recruitments last year and assured that Government would hire more staff to prevent a crisis in the UK NHS.
Reducing the trust of the British in the national health care system
In Britain, patients sometimes wait for months to see a doctor. After the Covid-19 epidemic, the situation has become even worse, and the trust in the National Health Service is decreasing, which intensifies the crisis in the National Health Service of the UK.
Return of incurable diseases due to lack of sufficient strength
Sick people in Britain today can no longer count on timely treatment. Many people whose diseases such as cancer were being successfully treated have returned because doctors in the public health service did not have time for rapid assessment. This issue alone reveals the existence of a crisis in the NHS.
In the end, we must say that the UK is chronically underfunded, and even if more money flows in, there will be a shortage of personnel. Furthermore, the NHS is ineffective in many places. The British used to be very proud of being able to go to the doctor for free. But today, people’s trust in this national health system in the UK has decreased drastically since the Covid-19 epidemic, and the crisis in the UK NHS is inevitable.
