UK TREND: Outrage as pressure on the NHS becomes unbearable

3 January 2023

(UK TREND)- Leading medics have warned that the current pressure on the NHS is “unbearable and unsustainable”, with the crisis likely to last until Easter. Delays in emergency care could be responsible for up to 500 deaths per week, they warned. The BMA council chair, Professor Phil Banfield, has called on the government to act immediately to resolve the crisis.

The demand for hospitals is soaring, partly due to winter illnesses such as the flu and Covid. The extraordinary pressure of the last few days has forced several hospitals to declare critical incidents, which means they can’t function as usual.

UK TREND

High-profile people, politicians, and members of the public have taken to Twitter in response to the health leaders’ warning that the NHS crisis is rapidly deteriorating to vent their anger at the government. They are frustrated with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay for their actions, which have allowed the NHS to fail in this way. Currently trending on Twitter are the hashtags #NHS CRISIS and #ToriesDestroyingOurNHS.

People are dying in corridors.
People are dying in ambulances because there’s no space in A+E depts.
People are dying in their homes because the ambulances don’t arrive.

Patients aren’t safe+staff are exhausted🚨
Be outraged. The government has done this to the NHS.#NHS

— Dr Julia Grace Patterson💙 (@JujuliaGrace) December 31, 2022

Member of Parliament Daisy Cooper tweeted that “ The NHS crisis is a life-or-death situation for a huge number of patients” . She highlighted that “parliament must be recalled, and a national major incident declared to put the NHS back on a pandemic-style footing”.

The NHS crisis is a life or death situation for huge numbers of patients. The NHS is collapsing in front of our eyes whilst the PM & Health Sec are nowhere to be seen. Parliament must be recalled &a national major incident declared to put the NHS back on a pandemic-style footing

— Daisy Cooper MP 🔶 (@libdemdaisy) January 2, 2023

Claudia Webbe is another member of parliament that also tweeted about the situation, as she shared some statistics that highlight the gravity of the situation. She also stated that “Tories manufactured this NHS crisis to build their case for privatisation”.

Emergency Care:

•500 a week are dying from delays

•37,837 patients waited more than 12 hrs in Nov ‘22, up by 355% compared to Nov ‘21

•133,400 nursing and overall NHS staff vacancies, a 5-year high

Tories manufactured this NHS crisis to build their case for privatisation

— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) January 2, 2023

Nurses and other healthcare professionals also used Twitter to criticise the conservative government for its failures in preventing the NHS crisis from getting worse.

You absolute disgrace.
500 people a WEEK are dying in ambulances and you talk about having fun!!!
You are guilty of negligence and corporate manslaughter.
NOW, DO YOUR JOB AND DEAL WITH THE #NHSCrisis
We need a health secretary NOT a death secretary!
We are on our knees! https://t.co/RSjjLDCWVe

— Stormzy💙 (@Nurseborisbash) January 2, 2023

Government responsibility

Members of the public expressed their anger at the government for attributing the NHS crisis to the pandemic. One individual tweeted “ the Pandemic is not responsible for 12 years of underfunding, lack of community care so elderly can be discharged, shortage of trained staff or people applying to train”.

Am I being naive?

Frustrating to hear ministers blaming NHS crisis on pandemic

Pandemic not responsible for 12 yrs of underfunding, lack of community care so elderly can be discharged, shortage of trained staff or people applying to train

This sits squarely with government

— Phil Smith (@philsmith20) January 2, 2023

The public appears to be in agreement that neither the pandemic nor the healthcare worker strikes are to blame—only the Conservative government.

It's not the nurses, or the paramedics who are responsible for the NHS crisis. There is one place, and one place only to lay the blame: The Conservative government – which has, over the past 12+ years, cynically manipulated the decimation of the NHS.#GE23 #SupportTheStrikes

— Fr Ian Maher SCP🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺🐝#RejoinEU (@IanMaher7) January 2, 2023

300 – 500 people dying each week caused by delays in emergency care. Issues over unsafe & undignified care, worn out medical staff, under resourced departments, the list goes on. @RishiSunak & @SteveBarclay nowhere to be found in an #NHSCrisis #ToriesDestroyingOurNHS

— Jo (@JoJoWildBlonde) January 2, 2023

People think the conservative government’s inaction and the way they allowed the crisis to get worse only serve to highlight the assumption that they are “allowing patients to die to enable the complete sell and privatisation of the NHS.”

The government are to blame for the NHS crisis and those who have died and will die because of it. They are to blame and a government who causes death to its citizens should be held accountable. They are killing us to enable the complete sell off of our NHS

— Caroline 🏴❤ (@Carolin10040488) January 2, 2023

A moving image of a healthcare worker drowning in water (due to high pressure and a lack of funding from the government) while still making every effort to lift the bed of a patient in need of aid has been widely circulated on social media platforms. Thus, it represents the heroic efforts NHS employees make while working under intense stress for the community they serve.

#ToriesDestroyingOurNHS #ToriesCostLives #ToriesDestroyingOurCountry #GeneralElectionNow #ToriesOut176 pic.twitter.com/2uo0upeuya

— Anne McFarlane #FBNHS #FBPE #FBPPR #3.5% 💙💙 (@AnneMcFarlane15) December 30, 2022