GAround eight o’clock in the evening, the 83-year-old lady fell in her apartment and complained of severe pain – she had broken her hip. Her daughter immediately called an ambulance, but the car didn’t show up until ten the next morning. When he turned in front of the county hospital, about 30 other ambulances were waiting there to deliver their patients. Only 26 hours later was the injured lady carried to the emergency room, where another hour passed before she was finally operated on.
We are in England, the land of courtesy, so a few weeks later the daughter received a letter from the National Health Service, which everyone just calls the NHS. We would like to sincerely apologize for the omissions, it said. That didn’t upset the daughter, it actually touched her. “I almost felt sorry for them,” she told the BBC, which researched the incident in Cornwall. It’s not the NHS’ fault. There was just no room for my mother.”
Even patients with suspected cancer have to wait
The small, by no means untypical patient story describes the strange world in which the British have set themselves up with their NHS. The state health service is hopelessly overwhelmed, but he can count on a population that forgives him almost everything.
For a few months, however, things have become too colorful even for the patient Brits. During the Corona pandemic, understanding of the overload of the NHS was widespread. Once a week, Brits, including the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, came out and banged on pots with wooden spoons to show their gratitude to the toiling doctors, nurses and orderlies. Not everyone joined in, as even in the UK there are some who would most like to get rid of the NHS – and with abstinence from the weekly solidarity din, their protest could at least be voiced quietly. Most, however, banged the drums for months and hung ‘our NHS’ cheering posters in their windows.
But to the amazement of many, the transition to post-pandemic normality has hardly eased the situation. Scandalous news has been piling up for months. It started with the lengthening of the waiting lists. In autumn, the number of people waiting for medical treatment rose to more than seven million for the first time. Even patients who are referred by their family doctor with suspected cancer have to be patient. Only two-thirds (67.2 percent) receive a diagnosis over the course of a month. And those are just the official stats. Private health professionals estimate that the “hidden” waiting lists are up to four times long.
Minister of Health: After two weeks, an appointment with the family doctor
Even citizens who go to the emergency rooms of the hospitals should not count on quick help. In October, 594,389 patients waited longer than four hours for a doctor – almost a third. 44,000 particularly needy patients had to wait twelve or more hours before they were admitted to a ward. In Belfast in November, a 77-year-old woman died in the emergency department after waiting hours on a makeshift bed. She had been taken there from a nursing home.
