Chelmsford: Fatme Ibrianova, 36, will travel from the UK to Turkey next month, not for a holiday, but for medical records of an operation she fought to get into Britain’s “broken” public health service.
The NHS, created after the Second World War to provide free health care for all, is a shadow of its former self, weakened by years of underfunding and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Appointments with the doctor or dentist are often stressful experiences. Emergency rooms are often overcrowded and hospital wait times are consistently high.
But the institution remains beloved by Britain, and its failure is a major issue in the July 4 general election.
Ibryanova had been seeing a local doctor in Chelmsford, a city in London, Essex, south-east England, for several months with a severe ear infection.
It has put him out of action and he needs urgent surgery.
“I’m on the waiting list. I have to wait three to four months. It’s long,” he told AFP.
So he decided to go to his home country, Turkey, where he could get treatment faster.
“If they need surgery, they do it,” he said, snapping his fingers.
Ibryanova is not alone. More than 7.5 million people in the UK were waiting for treatment in April, a high level despite new investment from the Conservative government.
A new study has found that a quarter of Britons are dissatisfied with the NHS at an all-time high.
“We have to wait three weeks for a blood test. We often have to wait in line when we can buy medicine,” cried Christine Knight, 71 years old, retired.
According to the Nuffield Trust health centre, there was one doctor for more than 2,300 patients at the end of last year, making the crisis even more acute.
Two doctors’ surgeries in Chelmsford have closed in recent years, said Marie Goldman, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency, who is a Conservative MP.
“What is left is a hole. It is very sad for this person,” he said. Voters always ask him about the NHS.
At the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, he referred to the health service as Britain’s “armour”. But today, he said, he was “beaten up.”
Hospitals here are among the worst in the country for cancer treatment, with more than three-quarters of patients waiting more than a month to start treatment after being diagnosed.
Local health organizations declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Bobby Jacob, a 30-year-old construction worker, recently underwent hand surgery at the city’s Broomfield Hospital.
She noted a lack of resources in a system that already relies heavily on foreign caregivers.
“You can see in every nurse’s face that they are overwhelmed and overwhelmed,” she told AFP. They work long hours. It is not enough for them,” he said.
Prolonged and frequent strikes on pay and conditions, including the first historic walkouts by nurses, have roiled the NHS for the past two years.
Professionals with low morale try to quit or cut hours.
“Seeing 45 to 50 patients a day is sometimes not normal,” said Dr. James Booth, who has worked part-time from one practice to another for more than 20 years.
He cited an aging population, less time with patients and staff shortages.
Billy Palmer of the Nuffield Trust said: “We are concerned that doctors, nurses and other professionals are joining the NHS too early in their careers or not at all.”
Booth said two private clinics had opened in Chelmsford in recent years and were doing “very well”.
All parties, including Labour, are set to shape the next government’s pledge to transform the NHS through mass recruitment, innovation and restructuring.
Experts say that what the system needs is a massive injection of money, which is not currently available.
‘Broken’ healthcare a key issue for UK voters
