A nightmare month for the NHS

The NHS is struggling. In December, English A&Es saw their busiest month on record: 170,000 people waited more than four hours to be admitted and nearly 55,000 waited more than 12 hours. These are the highest figures ever recorded. Ambulance response times were their worst ever too: the average wait for emergency call-outs was 93 minutes.

Things are also bad in Scotland. Last night, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (the country’s biggest health board) ‘paused’ elective surgeries to focus on emergencies and cancer treatment. The NHS as Glaswegians knew it is simply no more. Wards are being converted into ‘flu zones’ in scenes many thought we’d left behind in the pandemic.

If the tide doesn’t turn soon, there’s no reason to believe something similar isn’t coming to England. What really terrifies doctors is all of this comes despite the health service having more money than ever, staffing numbers increasing in many specialities and a nation discouraged from using the service anyway.