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Completely overloaded: the state health system NHS
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ANDY RAIN/EPA
According to estimates by associations, 300 to 500 people die every week in Great Britain because they are not treated in a timely or appropriate manner in the event of an emergency.
The vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Ian Higginson, confirmed the numbers that became known to the BBC over the weekend.
He dismissed the suggestion that the difficulties were temporary: "When you're there, you know it's a long-term problem, not just a short-term one."
According to the report, one in five patients picked up by an ambulance in England last week took more than an hour to be taken to the emergency room.
Tens of thousands of patients had to wait more than 12 hours to be treated in the emergency room.
The British Medical Association, a federation of nurses, echoed the alarming statements.
"It's not true that the country doesn't have the resources to fix this mess," said its chairman, Phil Banfield.
"It is a political decision and patients are dying needlessly because of this decision." Banfield described the current situation as "unsustainable" and called for "immediate" action by the government.
Years of austerity
The British government blames the consequences of the corona pandemic and the flu wave for the current situation and assures that it wants to do more for hospitals.
In his New Year's greetings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak named the NHS as one of his priorities.
The free NHS has suffered from harsh austerity measures for more than a decade.
Recently there have been several strikes by healthcare workers, including nursing staff and emergency services.
They wanted to increase pressure on the government to raise wages and improve working conditions.
The Conservative government is refusing wage increases despite record inflation of more than 10 percent.
atb/AFP