Are UK hospitals in trouble?

CGTN Europe

The UK’s National Health Service is taking strain, with millions of people on waiting lists for hospital treatment. Political parties are promising to fix  the service as the election draws near. But that may be easier said than done. CGTN’s Michael Marillier explains.   #UK #election #NHS #healthcare #waitinglists

Transcript

00:00Why is healthcare such a big issue ahead of the UK election?

00:06Well, the National Health Service, or NHS, is missing many of its targets.

00:12NHS England tracks how many patients wait more than 12 hours for a hospital bed.

00:18There were less than 500 of these cases in the whole of 2014.

00:23But in a single month, January this year, there were nearly 55,000.

00:30Patients are also waiting longer in the accident and emergency department.

00:35NHS England says 95% of patients must be treated, admitted to hospital or transferred within four hours.

00:46But at the start of the year, it achieved that goal just 55% of the time.

00:52Meanwhile, there are problems with ambulances.

00:56They're supposed to take less than 18 minutes to reach a patient in a serious condition.

01:01For example, someone who suffered a stroke.

01:05But just a few months ago, the average response time in that situation was nearly 35 minutes.

01:13The British government is set to spend almost $230 billion on health and social care this year.

01:21That's more than the combined budgets for education and defence.

01:25The government says strikes by workers have made things worse.

01:30But opponents say the UK has failed to invest properly in the sector for over a decade.

01:37British society is also getting older, with half the population now above the age of 40.

01:45More elderly people means more demand for health care.

01:49The country's leaders, whoever they may be, will have to find ways to deal with those challenges.

01:56Because nobody votes for bad health.

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