The NHS was never the envy of the world, but now it’s just a disaster
Just as Britain was turning secular after the war, it was gaining a new religion: the NHS, the prized fruit of the then still-new welfare state. The NHS as state religion has continued, fairly unabated, through thick and thin – until now. The “envy of the world” no longer, the health service has become more of a monstrous lorry rattling off-course than anything remotely resembling a pride and joy.
A tipping point has finally been reached. For the first time, the NHS’s loyal flock of worshippers is beginning to have doubts: more than half the country is now unhappy with the service. The British Social Attitudes survey, which has tracked public opinion since 1983, has found that A&E waiting times and the difficulty in obtaining GP appointments are among the factors driving disapproval to an all-time high. Only 29 per cent of people said they were satisfied with the NHS.
During the pandemic, the heroic deeds of hospital staff – many of whom were among the first to get hit by the virus – were impossible to ignore, and the religion thrived.
Now the NHS’s deficiencies have become painfully obvious. Not only is the sub-par service harming individuals who need care, but the country – and particularly its economy – is suffering, too. Hundreds of thousands are unable to work because they are on lengthy waiting lists, with over a million people saying that the waits for treatment have meant they have had to postpone or cancel work. A quarter of these say they have had to reduce their working hours, while a tenth say they have signed off work as long-term sick.
The Chancellor wants to get a worryingly unproductive Britain back to work, but so long as the country depends on a health system that cannot give people treatment in a timely fashion, that project is bound to fail. The NHS has long been a sinking ship, but now it’s dragging the country down with it.