Why the NHS is struggling

 

Why the NHS is struggling like never before

Lives are being put at risk with record long waits in accident-and-emergency units and 999 calls taking hours to be reached. The causes of this go beyond Covid - and with winter coming it looks set to get worse. Natalie Quinn's parents were active and enjoying life when the pandemic hit many business listings.

Although her father, Jimmy, had been diagnosed with dementia, he was still driving, playing golf, and attending groups organized by the Alzheimer's Society. But lockdown hit them hard.

"All my dad's activities stopped and he went downhill quickly," MS Quinn, 54, says.

"My mum was looking after him, but it took its toll. She had to go into hospital and he went into a care home.

"It was meant to be temporary - but, of course, we couldn't see him. He deteriorated and never came out."

By February, Jimmy, 75, was dead.

Natalie's mother's health worsened too. For years, she had been living with a rare blood marrow disorder. Now 77, she has spent the past six months in and out of the hospital in Evil, their hometown.

"I really believe if they could have remained active and living the life they had, it could be so different," MS Quinn says business listings.

Chronic illnesses

Natalie's family's story is being repeated across the country.

When the pandemic hit, about a quarter of adults in the UK were living with chronic illnesses.

With support and care disrupted and Covid making people more isolated and less active, their health has suffered.

According to those working in the NHS, they are now turning up to hospitals in ever greater numbers.

And it is this as much as Covid that is driving the rise in demand on the NHS.

At Newcastle's Royal Victoria Hospital, which allowed BBC News in to film this month, doctors and nurses are struggling.

Alongside Covid cases, they are seeing more frail elderly people being admitted as well as significant numbers of people with alcohol and mental health-related problems.

Like at nearly all hospitals, A&E waiting times have worsened and quality of care is suffering, with patients spending hours on trolleys because there are no beds available.

"It really breaks my heart to see - they are really vulnerable," senior sister Juliet Amos says.

'Tight spot'

The concern is being felt at the very top of the organization too free business listings.

"We are in such a tight spot, there is no room for maneuver," Dame Jackie Daniel says. "It can't go on."

But this is not just about demand. It is also down to capacity - what the NHS can cope with.

The service was struggling before the pandemic hit, with targets routinely missed in all parts of the UK.

The NHS was being run "at its limit", Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, says.

Feedback from his members now shows unprecedented levels of concern about the coming months. The health service, he believes, is heading for the "most difficult winter in its history".

This is not just about the past couple of years through - the situation has been a decade in the making.

Between 2010 and 2019 the annual rises in spending on health were well below those traditionally given since the birth of the NHS.

During that period, the Tories have been in power - albeit with the Lib Dems for the first five years.

Although it is worth noting, in its 2010 and 2015 election manifestos, Labour was not proposing any tangibly higher increases in spending either.

This parliament has seen a change - annual rises are now close to 4% - but the result of the squeeze in the 2010s is fewer doctors and nurses per head of population than our Western European neighbors.

It meant the UK entered the pandemic in a "vulnerable position" when you combine both funding and population health, says Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation, with less resilience to absorb a shock like a pandemic.