THE National Health Service is at breaking point, an alarming analysis by The
Sun shows.
Rocketing demand has left it creaking at the seams.
For the first time in the service’s 66-year history, more than a million of us
every day will visit a GP over the course of this year.
But with waiting times at record levels, a quarter will be unable to get
through the surgery door within seven days.
As a result, many will either get no help or go instead to already swamped
Accident & Emergency departments.
In a three-day investigation, The Sun will look at the health of the NHS
and what the future holds. Today we examine the state of the service and
where it must do better.
Despite a budget exceeding £100billion, the NHS has faced the biggest-ever
squeeze on its spending as the population — and waistlines — keep growing.
In a series of exclusive YouGov polls for The Sun, a third of Brits said their
local health service had got worse in the past year.
Just one in 20 felt it had improved. Almost half worried about lengthy
hospital waiting times.
And 37 per cent said that difficulty getting GP appointments was the biggest
problem with the NHS.
The population rose last year by 400,000 to 64.1 million, with immigration
behind 46 per cent of the increase.
Leading doctors warn waiting times will only get worse.
This year will see more than 370 million appointments at family doctors. By
2015 it will hit 384 million.
The Royal College of GPs warns a further 51 million requests to see a doctor
or nurse will not be met at all — up five million from this year.
They blame a lack of cash and increased demand from a growing and older
population.
Despite handling 90 per cent of patients, they get less than nine per cent of
the NHS budget. Dr Maureen Baker, who chairs the RCGP, said: “It’s becoming
harder than ever to get a GP appointment.
“We have a ticking timebomb and, unless something is done, general practice as
we know it will disappear.”
Dr Baker said surgeries are conducting 40 million more consultations a year
than in 2009, without any extra cash.
She added: “The fact patients in England will be unable to see a GP when they
want on more than 50 million occasions in 2015 is truly shocking. Many will
either end up in hospital, or worse, not seek treatment at all.”
But GPs are not alone in feeling pressure — with hospital demand also up. A
quarter of patients admit they go to casualty because their family doctor
cannot see them.
And official figures show A&Es now struggle all year round, with major
units missing four-hour waiting time targets for a whole 12 months.
Last month saw the highest attendance on record, with nearly 300,000 seeking
emergency help in a week. Average waits in casualty rose 11 minutes in the
past two years — and are set to worsen.
Last year patients waited two hours, 38 minutes to be seen.
Our polls found 23 per cent of Brits think their local A&E has got worse
in the past year.Ten per cent felt it improved.
Last month Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced hospitals are getting
£650million extra to cut A&E queues and long waits for operations.
More than three million are now awaiting NHS treatment, the highest in six
years, despite hospitals doing 2,300 more ops a day than in 2010.
Last year, a record 10.6 million people had surgery. Rising pressure also saw
more than 300 “never events” in the past year — blunders so serious they
should never happen.
Tomorrow: The cost of obesity
Some saw medical implements left in patients and wrong toes cut off. Meanwhile
Brits are taking more drugs — 60 per cent up on 2004. Last year, the NHS
doled out more than a billion prescriptions for pills, ointments and other
treatments.
With need rising, experts predict the service will face a £30billion black
hole by the end of the decade.
But Mr Hunt says the NHS must make more savings before more cash is pumped in.
The Sun polls found 14 per cent of Brits were forced to wait longer than a
week to see a GP, while six per cent waited more than a fortnight.
Some three per cent, one in 30, did not see a doctor at all. In total, 23 per
cent had a minimum seven-day wait or failed to get an appointment.
Roger Goss of Patient Concern called rising delays to see a GP “the biggest
issue in healthcare”. He said: “More must be spent on GP access or the NHS
will end up on its knees.”
A Dept of Health spokesman said: “Most patients can get appointments and we’re
offering 7.5 million more people email, Skype and evening and weekend slots.”
66 years of caring
By HOLLY CHRISTODOULOU
THIS growing NHS crisis is the latest episode in the service’s 66-year
history.
The system was created in the wake of World War II by the Labour Government to
provide “comprehensive health and rehabilitation services for prevention and
cure of disease”.
In 1967, sexual health saw major advances with the contraceptive pill made
widely available for the first time.
A year later, a fee for prescriptions was brought in. Today it stands at
£8.05.
In October 1968, Sheila Thorns gave birth to sextuplets after NHS fertility
treatment. Ten years later the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born
in Britain.
In 1994, the NHS Organ Donor Register was set up — helping to save the lives
of millions. Also in the 1990s, health authorities ceased to run hospitals,
but began to purchase care from their own or other authorities’ hospitals.
Providers became independent NHS trusts and by 1995 all health care was
provided by these bodies.
In 2000, NHS walk-in centres opened their doors to patients.
Cancer? Just wait
WORRIED Laura Casewell could get no GP appointment for three weeks — despite
fearing she had cancer.
In the end she went to A&E for medics to check a bleeding mole.
Writer Laura, 29, called her local surgery in Tyseley, Birmingham, when a lump
on her neck doubled in size in just a week.
She said: “I said it was urgent, but they said there was nothing they
could do.
“I was frantic so took myself to hospital. I felt bad as I didn’t want to clog
A&E, but the GP service had let me down.
“In the end it was a harmless growth.”
‘Snub’ at casualty
MICHELLE Lloyd had to call an ambulance for her son when he was turned away by
A&E.
Four-year-old Billy suffers from a rare brain condition and is fed through a
tube.
Michelle, 29, took him to Great Western Hospital, Swindon, with vomiting and
seizures. But after a seven-hour wait she was told to come back the next
day.
Back home he was so sick he could not breathe — so Michelle dialled 999. She
said: “He was clearly in need of immediate medical help.”
The hospital said Billy was seen in 30 minutes but “multiple tests” had to be
done.
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