– The healthcare system is on its knees. It’s a shame, says heart patient Terry Barton to news. He meets us in overalls outside the hospital where he has finally found a place on a bed post. Barton is one of many who have noticed that British hospitals are full. There is no room for new patients. It has led to a chaos that is killing people. Up to 500 people die unnecessarily every single week because the capacity is overstretched, says a top health official to several British media. – Didn’t want to bother busy nurses It’s been three days since Terry Barton had sudden pain in his heart. Here is his story: At first it took an hour and a half to get an answer when he called for help. He had to stand in the emergency department for five hours. There were not enough seats for everyone. He then spent two days on a trolley in a hospital corridor. He was not offered food until the third day. – They put me in a corner and forgot about me. I didn’t want to bother the overly busy nurses, says Barton. The current health authority writes to news that it does not recognize the heart patient’s experiences, but admits that the situation is challenging. Strikes and a shortage of health workers Over Christmas, the waiting time broke all previously measured records: Over 40 per cent of ambulances in England waited at least half an hour to hand over patients for emergency treatment. New patients had to wait. This costs lives. GOT PLACE: One of the lucky patients who gets to leave the ambulance and enter hospital for treatment. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news The situation has several explanations: Lack of health workers. Fully treated patients occupy hospital places. Many covid and flu patients. Strikes. On Monday, Health Minister Steve Barclay announced that the government is going to emergency purchase thousands of nursing home places to move finished patients there. According to Sky News, he says that there are a hundred times as many flu patients hospitalized this year as last year. Temporary barracks are also set up in the car parks to give people treatment there. There are over 130,000 vacancies in the NHS. Over 160,000 in the care sector. Today, paramedics are on strike again. They also went on strike before Christmas and will strike again later in January. Next week, the nurses will also strike for the second time in a short time. NEW STRIKE: An ambulance on call drives past striking paramedics in December. Today they are on strike again. Photo: HENRY NICHOLLS / Reuters They say they have to choose who will die On social media, people who say they work in the health care system say they break down in tears. Under the hashtag #NHSOnLifeSupport, anonymous doctors describe that they have to choose who will get the next available place and thus get to live, and who doesn’t get a place and must die. Patients are lying in corridors and some have also been laid directly on the floor, a health worker tells Sky News. In Liverpool, a 92-year-old woman asked to die after 33 hours on a trolley in a chaotic hospital corridor, according to her family. There is a lack of equipment, there is a lack of people. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promises to cut down on the long waiting lists. Over 7 million Britons are waiting for treatment. – The waiting lists will go down and people will get the treatment they need faster, Sunak has said. The government will change the strike law On Tuesday, the government put forward a proposal for a new strike law. It implies that there must be minimum staffing for vital public services in the event of a strike. – We have a duty to ensure access to public services to ensure life and health. People need to know that an ambulance will come if they have a stroke or are injured, says Business Minister Grant Shapps. He boasted of the nurses who collaborated on a minimum staffing when they went on strike before Christmas. At the same time, he criticized the ambulance staff for not doing the same. Shapps pointed out that France, Spain, Italy and Germany already have similar legislation that the government now wants the UK to have as well. British unions point out that Britain already has some of the strictest strike rules in the West. The head of the Confederation of British Trade Unions, Paul Nowak, calls the bill an attack on the right to strike. – This law will prolong conflicts, poison the climate in working life and lead to more frequent strikes, he says to the BBC. And continues: – It is undemocratic, will not work and is most certainly illegal. UNDER PRESSURE: Health Minister Steve Barclay presented his immediate plans to improve the situation in the British healthcare system in the House of Commons on Monday. Photo: JESSICA TAYLOR / AFP The unions are considering taking legal action against the government. In the first instance, the bill must be passed in both the Lower House and the Upper House. Processing may take time, and a new law will not solve the ongoing strikes. But the strikes are not what worries the patients and employees news meets the most. Many point to the fact that the NHS has been gradually weakened over many years. Doubts about promises of recovery – There is no point in going to the GP anymore, says Austin, who will be referred to by his first name. He works with transporting patients to and from planned operations and treatments. – In any case, the GP only sends you to the emergency department, so then you cut the doctor out, he adds. “TERRIFYING”: John La and his colleague Austin transport patients to scheduled treatments. They tell news that the situation in the British healthcare system is terrible. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news Colleague John La describes the situation as “really bad”. – It’s not good service, it’s terrible. People have to wait a long time for surgery. Maybe up to two years. Heart patient Terry Barton doubts whether he will have surgery before it is too late. – I get to take a taxi to the cemetery. What else can be done? What else can one do, he repeats.
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