In the UK, patients sometimes wait months for a doctor’s appointment. After the pandemic, the situation even worsened. And trust in the National Health Service is waning.
«NZZ Akzent»: Healthcare UK: no time for cancer
author
Nadine Landert, Benedikt Hofer
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67-year-old Verity Collins is multimorbid, meaning she suffers from multiple illnesses at the same time. There are four of them in total. Depending on the complaint, it takes weeks before she can see a doctor, sometimes a few months. “I’m on a waiting list for six appointments in total,” complains the retired journalist. She has been waiting for an examination for her arthritis symptoms for over a year.
Collins is not an isolated case, but the expression of a fundamental crisis in the public health system in Great Britain. The National Health Service (NHS) is completely overwhelmed: six million people, around a tenth of the UK population, are on an NHS waiting list. Several hundred thousand wait longer than a year. Because more people are going to the doctor again after the lifting of the Covid measures, the waiting time is likely to be even longer until 2024, according to official estimates.
Our correspondent Niklaus Nuspliger was able to speak to Collins. Using her case, he illustrates in the podcast that sick people in Britain today can no longer count on timely treatment. When Collins said her cancer, which had been fought successfully, had returned, doctors at the public health service didn’t have time for a quick evaluation. She made an appointment at a private clinic.
“The system is chronically underfunded. And even if more money were to flow, there would be a lack of staff. In addition, the NHS is inefficient in many places,” says Nuspliger. The British were once extremely proud to be able to go to the doctor for free. The NHS was seen as an achievement of civilization. Even today, politicians swear by the National Health Service from left to right. “But trust has dwindled massively among the population since the pandemic,” says Nuspliger.
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