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Bullying 'normal occurrence' at Newcastle NHS trust, say CQC

A "significant deterioration" in leadership at an NHS trust probably had a "knock-on effect" on its standard of services, a watchdog has found.

Inspectors found staff felt encouraged to "turn a blind eye" to bullying in hospitals run by the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded the trust's overall rating to "requires improvement".

The trust said it "fully accepts" the report and that recommendations were being worked on "as a matter of urgency".

Ann Ford, CQC's director of operations in the north, said: "We found a significant deterioration in how well the trust was being led.

"Our experience tells us that when a trust isn't well led, this has a knock-on effect on the standard of services being provided to people.

"Some staff told us that bullying was a normal occurrence, and they were encouraged to 'turn a blind eye' and not report this behaviour.

"This is completely unacceptable."

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Source: BBC News, 25 January 2024

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Bullied 12-year-old struggled to get mental health support before suicide, inquest hears

The mother of a bullied 12-year-old girl has said her daughter struggled to get mental health support on the NHS in the months before she killed herself, and accused her school of failing to deal with inappropriate messages circulating among pupils.

The mother of Charley-Ann Patterson, Jamie, told a hearing that despite being seen by three medical professionals, Charley-Ann had been unable to get mental health support in the months before her death.

In a statement read at an inquest at Northumberland coroner’s court on 12 October, Jamie said her daughter had changed halfway through her first year of secondary school, when she was sent “inappropriate” and “shocking” messages by other pupils.

The inquest heard that Jamie first took her daughter to a GP over self-harm concerns in June 2019, but she said she “did not believe that the GP took Charley-Ann’s self-harm seriously, potentially due to her age”.

She took Charley-Ann to A&E in May 2020 after a second episode of self-harm, where she was referred to a psychiatric team and given a telephone appointment in which she was told Charley-Ann would be referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), but that “it was likely that she would not be seen for three years”.

In an appointment with a nurse she was told that she would be referred to the Northumberland mental health hub for low mood and anxiety, but later learned “that this referral was never made”.

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Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2022

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Building firm to pay £5m over ‘defects’ at major cancer centre

A construction firm has been ordered to pay £5m after fire and electrical safety defects were found at one of the NHS’s largest cancer centres.

Lendlease was responsible for the design and build of the Bexley Wing at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, under a private finance initiative deal nearly 20 years ago.

The building houses Leeds Cancer Centre, one of the largest in the country, and some other services. It is run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.

Concerns were later raised over fire and electrical safety in the plant room, where the building’s power supply is situated, according to a ruling published by the technology and construction court.

This included a lack of fire separation between the primary and secondary source of power, which risked a single incident disabling them both.

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Source: HSJ, 16 January 2023

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Bug-spread baby deaths 'could have been prevented'

Two babies died on a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit during a bacterial outbreak which could have been prevented, the BBC has learned.

An internal investigation by Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) said lapses in hygiene practices allowed the drug-resistant bugs to spread.

Five other infants were found to have the same Klebsiella pneumoniae strain during the outbreak in November 2021. The mother of a two-week-old boy who died said she felt “betrayed” by the hospital and had begun legal action.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had implemented new infection control measures, brought in additional training and increased staffing levels.

A nurse who previously worked at the neonatal unit told the BBC staff faced “extremely strenuous” conditions which led to “medical mistakes”.

A patient safety incident investigation report, circulated internally in March 2022 and seen by the BBC, also said infection control practices which could have stopped the spread of Klebsiella “were not being implemented consistently” by staff in the unit.

It revealed an investigation had found staff in the neonatal unit were not “consistently” following hand hygiene guidelines at the time of the outbreak and “seemed unclear” about where and when personal protective equipment was required.

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Source: BBC News, 16 July 2024

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Buffer zone to be set up outside Bournemouth abortion clinic

An extensive buffer zone is being put in place around a clinic in Dorset in order to prevent anti-abortion campaigners harassing service users and staff.

The zone will cover six streets around the British Pregnancy Advice Service clinic in Bournemouth and will be in force for 12 hours a day, five days a week for the next three years.

Anyone caught protesting, harassing, intimidating or photographing visitors or staff could incur a fixed penalty notice of £100 or be liable for conviction at a magistrates court.

Women have complained of being followed into the clinic or accosted when they leave. They have reported being told “the baby loves them” or asked whether they know they “murder babies” inside the building.

One worker told the Guardian she has witnessed “many distressed clients”, including one who injured herself trying to climb a wall to avoid walking past the protesters.

In another serious incident, an individual dressed in a monk’s cassock followed a staff member along the street in the dark while recording her.

One service user said: “It was really intimidating. You’re in a really vulnerable situation and you have all these people shouting at you and saying you’re going to hell.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 October 2022

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Budget changes will leave disabled and elderly without care as providers go under, experts warn

Rachel Reeves’ Budget measures will devastate care providers, leaving vulnerable disabled and elderly people without care next year, healthcare experts are warning.

The disastrous scenario could also bankrupt local authorities, care providers say.

The rise in employers’ national insurance in April, together with increases in the minimum wage and national living wage, will threaten the future of care companies, according to the Homecare Association, a membership body for care providers.

The association says that if care providers fold, the UK risks widespread failure of care provision, which could “leave people without care, overwhelm family carers and cripple NHS services”.

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Source: The Independent, 15 December 2024

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BT investigated over major 999 call disruption

An investigation has been launched into BT following the major disruption to 999 call services on Sunday.

Emergency services across the country reported 999 calls were failing to connect because of a technical fault.

BT, which manages the 999 phone system, apologised for the problems which were resolved by Sunday evening.

The communications regulator, Ofcom, will now investigate whether BT failed to comply with its regulatory obligations.

In a statement, Ofcom said its rules required BT and other providers to take "all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations as part of any call services offered".

While the incident was ongoing Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service warned of a 30-second delay to connect to 999, while Suffolk Police said its system was not working to full capacity.

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Source: BBC News, 28 June 2023

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Britons will suffer health problems from COVID-19 for years, warn doctors

Many people in Britain are likely to suffer from physical and mental problems for several years after the COVID-19 epidemic has subsided. That is the grim message from doctors and psychologists who last week warned that even after lockdown measures had been lifted thousands of individuals would still be suffering.

Some of these problems will be due directly to the impact that the virus has had on those it has infected, especially those who went through life-saving interventions in intensive care units (ICUs) in hospital. In addition there will be a considerable impact on vulnerable people affected by the lockdown and isolation.

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Source: The Observer, 2 May 2020

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Britons turn into ‘DIY doctors’ as poll reveals one in three have given up on seeing a GP

An alarming number of Britons are turning into “DIY doctors” because of the struggle to get an NHS GP appointment in 2023, new polling has revealed.

Some 23% of those surveyed said they could not get an appointment, while three in 10 (33 per cent) said they had given up on booking one altogether, according to a Savanta poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

Many said they had resorted to “DIY” medical care or gone to A&E instead. One in seven (14 per cent) said they had been forced to treat themselves or ask someone else untrained to do so, with the same proportion seeking emergency care.

One in five people said they had bought medication online or at a pharmacy without advice from a GP, and one in three had delayed seeing a doctor despite being in pain, as pressure on the NHS mounts.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey described the figures as “utterly depressing” and said they should serve as an “urgent wake-up call for ministers asleep on the job”.

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Source: The Independent, 1 January 2024

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Britons of black and south Asian origin with dementia die younger, study finds

Britons of black and south Asian origin with dementia die younger and sooner after being diagnosed than white people, research has found.

South Asian people die 2.97 years younger and black people 2.66 years younger than their white counterparts, according to a study by academics from University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

A team led by Dr Naaheed Mukadam, from UCL’s division of psychiatry, reached their conclusions after studying health records covering the 21 years between 1997 and 2018 of 662,882 people across the UK who were aged over 65.

They found that:

  •  Dementia rates have increased across all ethnic groups.
  •  Black people are 22% more likely to get dementia than their white peers.
  •  Dementia is 17% less common among those of south Asian background.

But they have voiced concern about also discovering that south Asian and black people are diagnosed younger, survive for less time and die younger than white people.

“The earlier age of dementia diagnosis in people of black and south Asian [origin] … may be related to the higher prevalence of some risk factors for dementia such as, in older south Asians, fewer years of education, and in both groups hypertension [high blood pressure], diabetes and obesity,” they write in their paper, published in the medical journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

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Source: The Guardian, 18 September 2022

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Briton’s top NHS priority revealed amid falling confidence in government’s health service policy

The government’s flagship NHS policy is at odds with what the general public view as a top priority, a new poll suggests.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” pledged that by July 2029, 92% of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment such as hip and knee replacements.

But cutting waiting times for routine hospital services ranks only fifth for the public in terms of NHS priorities, the poll suggests.

The public’s top priority for the NHS is making it easier to access GP appointments followed by improving A&E waiting times and reducing the number of staff leaving the NHS, the Health Foundation think tank found.

Researchers found that public confidence in the government’s NHS policies “remains low” after just over half (53 per cent) said they disagree that the government has the right policies for the health service, compared to 16% who agree.

They said that public perceptions of the NHS “remain negative overall” but there are some signs that views are “slowly improving”.

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Source: The Independent, 12 September 2025

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British women are facing a quiet crisis in contraceptive care

Delays in being able to get contraception and abortions can wreck women’s lives. It’s time women ignored the stigma and started complaining more loudly, writes Nell Frizzell in the Guardian. 

"When a friend recently told me that there was a 10-week waiting list to have a copper coil fitted, my shock turned quickly into anger. Ten weeks is a hell of a long time to wait for adequate, hormone-free, affordable contraception.

We are experiencing a quiet crisis in contraceptive care in this country. 

According to a report by the Advisory Group on Contraception: “Going into lockdown, services had faced years of budget cuts by the government, leading to an 18% decrease in real-terms contraception spend since 2015.”

The same report points out that there has also been a huge reduction in sites commissioned to deliver contraception (26% of local authorities cut sites in 2018-2019), meaning people are having to travel further to get the medical help they need, simply not to have an unplanned, unwanted, unaffordable or unsafe pregnancy.

Unfortunately, the stigma still attached to contraception and reproductive health means people are less willing to complain publicly about the huge waiting times, the travel costs and the difficulty they face in accessing contraception and abortion. Subtly and overtly, we are told that this is our lot and we must bear it.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 March 2022

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British Sign Language to be used in NHS mental health service

The charity SignHealth has been awarded a national contract with NHS England to supply the mental health service Talking Therapies in British Sign Language.

The new specialist service will help to support deaf people who are experiencing anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.

This marks the first time NHS England have granted a national contract to a deaf specialist service and will hope to bridge the gap and tackle the health inequalities recognised after a recent freedom of information (FOI) request found that around 100 NHS trusts do not comply with accessible information standards (AIS).

Prior to the contract, deaf people experiencing mental health related issues would have to rely on funding from their Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to approve additional communication assistance on an individual basis.

Waiting for approval of the funding for British Sign Language (BSL) therapy services meant that many deaf patients were having to wait considerably longer than their able hearing counterparts.

Many CCGs do not grant additional funding and would not offer these kinds of services to deaf people, often resulting in ‘postcode lottery’.

Dr Sarah Powell, Clinical Lead at SignHealth, said: "Deaf people are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety compared to hearing people. This is a serious and sometimes life-threatening health inequality. Therapy delivered in sign language has been proven to have higher recovery rates and we are delighted that this contract removes the funding barrier so that more Deaf people are able to access life-changing treatment."

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Source: NHE, 9 March 2022

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British mother, 26, dies in taxi hours after Brazilian bum lift operation in Turkey

A British mother-of-three has died just days after undergoing a Brazilian bum-lift operation in Turkey.

Demi Agoglia, 26, of Salford, Greater Manchester, died from a heart attack caused by the operation just hours before she was due to return to Manchester from Istanbul where she had the operation, her family said.

Ms Agoglia, who had a seven-month-old baby boy, went back to the clinic in Istanbul for a check-up but had a heart attack in a taxi on the way to the hospital as her partner, Bradley Jones, gave her CPR in a desperate bid to save her life.

Her brother Carl, 37, said Ms Agoglia’s family and partner had tried to convince her not to go through with the bum-lift as they were concerned for her safety.

Last year, a British surgeon warned of the dangers faced by Brits who fly to countries like Turkey for cheaper cosmetic surgery.

“Many people fail to do their research and focus too much on money, rather than the quality or safety of the clinic,” Dr Ahmed Alsayed, who is lead surgeon and medical director at plastic surgery specialists Signature Clinic told HullLive.

“Clinics in the UK have to adhere to the strictest levels of expertise, safety and cleanliness. You just can’t be sure you’ll get that from a cheaper option abroad,” Dr Alsayed said.

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Source: The Independent, 10 January 2023

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British medics could ‘turn their backs on NHS’ if not prioritised for training places

British medics will “turn their backs on the NHS” if they are not prioritised for specialty training, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned.

Mr Streeting warned the health service must “break our over-reliance on international recruitment”, as he unveiled plans to give UK and Irish medical graduates precedence for these vital training places.

Specialty training marks the final stage of a doctor’s qualification, focusing on a specific medical field or general practice.

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill, due for Commons discussion on Tuesday, would also see British and Irish graduates prioritised for foundation training.

Setting out the bill, the health secretary said: “We’ve known for years that the treatment of resident doctors is often totally unacceptable and the very real fears about their futures are wholly justified.

“Every time I’ve met a resident doctor, either formally or informally, they tell me, without fail, how their careers are blocked because there are far too many applicants for training places.

“Not only do I think they have a legitimate grievance, I agree with them.”

Mr Streeting warned that if they do not deal with the issue, “the resentment it causes will just get worse” and British medics will “turn their backs on the NHS”.

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Source: The Independent, 28 January 2026

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British Medical Association calls government reckless over pay talks

The British Medical Association has accused the government of "reckless" behaviour ahead of the results of a strike ballot by junior doctors.

The BMA's Professor Philip Banfield said the prime minister and health secretary were refusing to enter meaningful negotiations with unions.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it had met with the BMA and other unions to discuss pay.

Professor Banfield, the BMA's chair of council, said that Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay were "standing on the precipice of an historic mistake".

He accused the government of "guaranteeing escalation", adding that officials were "reckless" for thinking they could stay silent and wait it out.

Professor Banfield also accused the government of "letting patients down", adding: "All NHS staff are standing up for our patients in a system that seems to have forgotten that valuing staff and their well-being is directly linked to patient safety and better outcomes of care."

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Source: BBC News, 19 February 2023

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British hospitals introduce treatment for heart failure that cuts deaths by 62%

People in Britain with heart failure are being given larger doses of drugs at the start of their treatment after a global study found that this led to a huge fall in deaths.

Experts say the new approach could mean those with the potentially fatal condition start receiving their ideal amount of medication within two weeks of diagnosis rather than after many months.

Evidence from other countries that have already used the treatment found it cut deaths from heart failure by 62% and lowered their risk of ending up back in hospital by 30%. 

St George’s hospital in London and Morriston hospital in Swansea have begun treating patients with the innovative method, which those involved say “is a total gamechanger” for the condition.

Clinical staff likened the approach – known as “rapid titration” – to how cancer patients are given a full dose of chemotherapy medication from the start of their treatment to improve their chances of recovery.

“Heart failure is a silent killer, so this new way of treating patients is a total gamechanger that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. It will save many lives and bring hope to so many families,” said Matthew Sunter, the lead heart failure nurse at St George’s.

“In days gone by, we would start patients on a very low dose and increase it by very small doses. It could take nine to 12 months to reach the optimal dose.

“Strong-HF has allowed us to think completely differently. For the first time ever, we offer patients a review one week after discharge and we can catch them before they get sick enough to need to come back into hospital.

“And we can get them on to the recommended therapy for their heart failure within two to three weeks instead of nine to 12 months.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025

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British Bangladeshi men have highest rates of lung cancer in England

British Bangladeshi men have the highest rates of lung cancer in England, according to a study that reveals clear patterns in how the disease affects different communities in the country.

Disparities that go beyond smoking have been revealed by the University of Oxford researchers’ analysis of 17.5 million people’s health records and 84,000 lung cancer cases.

The findings, from Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, coincide with the rollout of the targeted lung health check programme across England, which aims to reach 40% of the eligible population by March 2025 and 100% by 2030.

The new research found “ethnic background and social circumstances” are crucial factors in cancer risk, how it develops, and the type.

Lung cancer occurred twice as frequently in the most deprived areas compared with the least – with 215 cases per 100,000 people among men in the poorest areas, compared with 94 cases in the most affluent, the study found.

For women, rates in the most deprived areas were at 147 per 100,000, compared with 62 in the least deprived.

Bangladeshi men showed the highest lung cancer rates, followed by white, Chinese and Caribbean men.

Prof Julia Hippisley-Cox, a senior author of the study, said: “We need to ensure our cancer services are reaching all communities effectively and that everyone has the same opportunity for early diagnosis.

“Tackling these disparities isn’t just about lung cancer: when we address these fundamental inequalities in healthcare access and social deprivation, we can improve health outcomes across many conditions.”

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Source: The Guardian, 14 November 2024

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British BAME and foreign doctors ‘suffer discrimination throughout careers’

British doctors of BAME origin and overseas-trained medics working in the UK experience “persistent and pernicious” inequality throughout their careers, the medical regulator has warned.

The General Medical Council (GMC) said too many doctors are still being reported by their employers for alleged misconduct compared with white British-trained medics.

Doctors also experience “discrimination and disadvantage” in their efforts to progress medical careers because of a hostile “culture” in too many parts of the NHS, it said.

The report, by the GMC’s chief executive, Charlie Massey, is intended to stamp out discrimination.

Massey said, "For too many doctors, medicine is a story of discrimination and disadvantage. From the early days of education and training, to the leadership positions of latter years, issues of inequality are persistent and pernicious. This unfairness is deep-rooted and longstanding. It undermines doctors’ morale and ability to perform at their best. And it shames our health services. Fair treatment is not the preserve of a select few – it is the right of all doctors, regardless of who they are.”

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Source: The Guardian, 17 October 2024

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Britain’s drinking deaths rose at record rate in pandemic

Britain’s lockdown drinking habits may have had fatal consequences. Deaths caused by alcohol in 2020 increased by almost 19%, marking the biggest rise since records began, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were 8,974 deaths from alcohol specific causes registered in the 12 month period, up from 7,565 deaths in 2019 – the highest year-on-year increase since the data series began in 2001. It bucks a trend in which fatalities from alcohol remained stable for the previous seven years.

In England, the number of people drinking more than 14 units a week increased after the first national lockdown, according to surveys by Public Health England (PHE), and has remained at similar levels since. As pubs shut, drinking at home soared, with off-licence sales of beer rising 31% and spirits 26% compared with 2019.

Dr James Tucker, the head of health analysis, said: “There will be many complex factors behind the elevated risk since spring 2020."

“For instance, Public Health England analysis has shown consumption patterns have changed since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which could have led to hospital admissions and ultimately deaths. We’ve seen increases in loneliness, depression and anxiety during the pandemic and these could also be factors. However, it will be some time before we fully understand the impact of all of these.”

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Source: The Guardian, 7 December 2021

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Britain’s dental health desperately needs a check-up

“Nobody cares about me. Nobody wants to help me. I don’t want to be here anymore.” Difficult words to hear from a small child, but for Molly Tippetts, aged five with a nasty tooth infection, the outburst was the culmination of two years of pain – all because she couldn’t get an appointment to see a dentist.

Molly is just one example of the UK’s dental-health crisis. An increasing number of people cannot access dental care at all; others – including children and expectant mothers – find themselves on years-long waiting lists. Even though the pandemic is over, NHS practitioners admit the country is in a crisis that shows no sign of ending.

New research shows one in four people suffering from toothache put off going to the dentist because of the cost.

Dentistry is now the number one issue raised with Healthwatch, the independent statutory body representing NHS patients, with four in five people who contacted them saying they found it difficult to access dental care. 

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recently warned that even toothbrushes were a “luxury item” for some families, and that children’s dental health was a “national disgrace”.

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Source: The Telegraph, 25 April 2023

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Britain’s care homes crisis: children sent to live hundreds of miles away

Some of Britain’s most vulnerable children are being moved to care homes more than 300 miles away from the neighbourhoods they grew up in, according to an Observer investigation revealing a “national scandal”.

The shocking figures make clear for the first time the scale of the crisis that has long worried child welfare experts. They show dozens of children from London alone are in foster or care homes more than 250 miles from the city, as councils battle a significant shortfall in provision. Children from the capital have been placed in homes near Perth, Glasgow, Knowsley, Leeds and Carlisle.

Care experts said that the pattern is being repeated across the country, removing children from critical support networks and familiar surroundings.

About 600 children from London are in foster or residential care more than 50 miles from their home neighbourhoods. Councils have warned they often have to compete for limited places, and face “rising costs and profiteering on the backs of vulnerable children”.

Some children need to be placed in certain locations for their own safety. However, there is widespread acceptance that the care system is failing to provide enough appropriate places in the right areas. Experts warn that relocating children removed them from schools, friends and extended family, as well as clubs and activities that were often key to their wellbeing. They warned it also put some at greater risk of exploitation.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 April 2023

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Britain’s ‘medieval’ health inequality is devastating NHS, experts say

Britain’s “medieval” levels of health inequality are having a “devastating” effect on the NHS, experts have warned, with the health service estimated to be spending as much as £50bn a year on the effects of deprivation.

Rising rates of child poverty have led to a growing burden on hospitals, with the knock-on cost to the NHS comparable to the annual defence budget.

One senior NHS figure said they were seeing “medieval” levels of untreated illness in some of Britain’s poorest communities, including people attending A&E “with cancerous lumps bursting through their skin”.

Another said hospitals were witnessing a “chilling” trend of vulnerable people, young and old, deliberately self-harming to secure an overnight stay. Concern has also been raised about rising rates of “Dickensian” illnesses, including scabies, rickets and scarlet fever.

The disclosures are revealed as part of a months-long Guardian investigation into the effects of deepening poverty on a “broken” NHS.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2025

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Britain's postcode lottery for newborn deaths: Mortality rates on NHS wards twice as high in some areas, reveals report

Sick newborns in some areas of the UK are dying at twice the rate of seriously ill babies in other areas, a new report has revealed.

The findings raise serious questions about the quality of care in some neonatal units, with experts warning action needs to be taken to tackle the “striking variation”.

Across the country neonatal units are also short of at least 600 nurses with four in five failing to meet required safe staffing levels for specialist nurses.

The regions with the highest mortality rate at 10 per cent were Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country, where 107 babies died. This compared with a rate of 5 per cent in north central and northeast London. The Shropshire region includes the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, which is at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS, with hundreds of alleged cases of poor care now under investigation.

Dr Sam Oddie, a consultant neonatologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust and who led the work for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the differences in death rates between units.

“The mortality differences are very striking, with some units having a mortality rate twice that of the lowest. This variation in mortality is a basis for action by neonatal networks to ensure they are doing everything they can to make sure their mortality is as low as possible,” he said.

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Read MBRRACE-UK report

Source: The Independent, 18 December 2019

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Britain really isn’t working – and the collapsing NHS is to blame

After lockdown raided the savings of hairdresser and gym instructor Lucie Wilby, a lengthy wait for a hip replacement dealt another blow to her family’s finances.

“We’re in a lot of debt because of it and that’s a combination of Covid and obviously surgery [and] waiting times,” the 53-year-old mother from Cornwall says. 

“If I hadn’t had to wait six months, we’d be nowhere near this issue.”

Like many of the 6.6 million people on an NHS waiting list, work had become painful and eventually impossible for Wilby as the backlog in treatment forces people to cut their hours or stop employment altogether. 

“By the time of the operation, I was barely walking and I’m self employed,” she says. 

“It took about three years to get diagnosed. That’s one of the major problems – it’s not just the waiting time for the operation once you’re on the list, it’s the waiting time for diagnosis.”

While tax cuts and even trans issues may have stolen the limelight in the Tory leadership race, the struggle to get a grip of record NHS backlogs post-Covid is having a huge economic, as well as human, cost.

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Source: The Times, 7 August 2022

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