A “Historic” plan to heal an increasingly deteriorating public health sector

This is one of the British government’s current priorities: restoring health services. The government has now announced a plan it describes as “historic” that will include recruiting 300,000 people over the next 15 years to tackle chronic understaffing. It represents an investment of almost three billion euros, and tries to solve the serious problems of the sector.

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A number of announcements have been made as a disturbing report has been released: people are dying earlier from cancer and heart disease in the UK than in other rich countries. This comprehensive study of King’s Fund. The paper compares the health services of 19 countries and the outcome is worse for Britons. This results in avoidable deaths: those who have accidents and those who do not survive injuries due to improper care, or who suffer from diseases that we know how to treat, but who do not get the right treatment in time or who are diagnosed too late.

In these 118 pages, the United Kingdom appears at the back of the pack, far from France, for example, in the performance of its health services, particularly when it comes to prevention. The risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack is higher here than in Portugal, Denmark or the Netherlands. Only the US does less. Another element: the UK has a lower ratio of doctors to the general population than New Zealand, Belgium, Sweden or Germany. In terms of investment in public health, the country is at the bottom of the class, far behind Austria, for example.

Anger and frustration

A survey of more than seven-and-a-half million patients waiting for an appointment is worrying five days this month. never seen They want a raise and they will be followed up by doctors a few days later for a 48-hour action with the same demand. Strikes that deeply disrupt an already strained service.

Nursing staff are suffering because of this. The latest absentees statistics prove it: in 2022, this equates to 75,000 employees lost to sick leave. Main causes: psychological problems (overwork, especially stress), fever, infectious diseases, breathing difficulties. There have never been so many strikes for these reasons.

The nursing staff did not digest the post-infection. The waves of Covid have overwhelmed him many times. There are many political promises of better working conditions and more employment opportunities. No result yet. Rather, it is a veritable hemorrhage in public health. Multiple departures, difficult to change. It’s a field that no longer appeals, and all this news obviously doesn’t help.