The UK’s National Health Service provides free medical care to all UK residents, but has faced severe shortages of staff, funds and disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There is also a mass strike in the UK, including by hospital staff and ambulance drivers. Combined with the winter flu problems, this has led to the declaration of a state of emergency in some hospitals. Patients have to wait for hours for ambulances to arrive and once in the hospital they are treated in the corridors.
Sunak
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said today he wants to repair the NHS with a radical approach, but already appears to be bowing to growing pressure – including from his own party – to pay health workers better. Sunak wants to have talks with union leaders on salaries, while his ministers initially didn’t want to.
“We need to have a fair and reasonable conversation about salaries,” Sunak told the BBC. “The door has always been open to discussing the things that are important to hospital staff.”