Want to know the depth of our NHS crisis? Then talk to disabled people needing day-to-day care (Guardian, 25 January 2023)

Summary

Whether it is the waiting lists for mental health support or the inadequacies of long-Covid clinics, millions of patients with long-term health conditions have been struggling for years to get basic healthcare. The chaotic decline that has befallen acute care in A&E has hit day-to-day services, with effects from delayed consultant appointments and year-long clinic waiting lists to slashed community care.

Mental health bed shortages mean young people need now to have “attempted suicide several times” before they get a place in an inpatient unit in England. Record delays for cancer treatment are leaving patients facing lethal waits. Thousands of people with neurological conditions are waiting up to two years to even see a consultant. For them, the ground has long been shaking. It is just that no one else noticed.

The Guardian has spoken to disabled people the length and breadth of England and Wales about their wait for care. For them, the NHS is not an “in case of emergency” service but the engine they rely on to keep their day-to-day life running.