Is the National Health Service in a terminal condition?

Is the National Health Service in a terminal condition?

Some consider the NHS to be the prize possession of Britain and yet is consistently a point of public discourse and disappointment whether it be regarding funding, waiting times, or the payments received by nurses. Despite the government's constant pledging for improvements, there have been no significant changes throughout the system. 

With a general election looming both parties insist that giving them power will lead to a reform throughout the NHS with labor saying that they will do so by starting with the basics and building the service back from the ground up.

However, as it stands the people are forced to sustain the greatest pressure from the government's inability to assist improvement in the NHS are the people directly within the workforce; the nurses. 26-year-old nurse Zoe Kobeli said “the NHS suffers from chronic understaffing, inadequate managerial support, institutionalized racism, favoritism, and lack of unity within the healthcare system”  giving insight into just how hopeless the situation feels for the people working there. She outlined numerous issues, many of which neither party has given solutions too, and explained how they affected the workers saying “these issues contribute to an environment where NHS workers feel overworked, undervalued, and lacking in support” going on to explain that these factors all cause the lack of quality currently plaguing the healthcare system.

One of the main issues that both parties do intend on fixing is the amount of funding the NHS is given. Labour leader Keir Starmer has pledged to pump more money into the service and the Conservative party have said they will give an extra 33.9 Billion pounds in funding. When asked where this extra funding should be funneled, Ms Kabeli said “Additional funding can be allocated to address chronic understaffing, implement measures to combat institutionalized racism and favoritism, and ensure fair compensation for healthcare professionals” once again outlining how the current tasks that are holding the NHS back should be the priority for the governments spending.

We also spoke to Charolette Bounds, who worked as a nurse at the NHS for over 20 years before eventually leaving. She told us that on her way out she was asked to give a reason why she left and told us “They gave me some boxes and told me to tick two. I wanted to tick them all… the pay, the hours, the community inside the place it was just terrible”

When asked as to what can be done to improve the NHS a main point she gave was the training saying “Some of the people in there don’t even know what dosage to give to who, its just not good enough” going on to say that better funding would allow for higher pay and better training.

With a general election approaching and both parties giving their own solutions as to how to fix the NHS, it will be up to the British public to decide which way they believe is the best in order to fix the multitude of problems with the service going forward.