The waiting game for treatment

Since being established in 1948 the NHS has always incurred the problem of the length of time which patients have to wait for treatment, but in recent years there has been a tremendous increase. Delays are currently occurring for check-ups, consultations and even operations for patients. Figures from several sources suggest on average there are 4 million people waiting for surgery on the NHS and this is still growing.

There are many possible reasons to why the waiting times are so long. One being the over subscription of the NHS. The UK’s population is only growing and with it being an aging population, there is likely to be an increase in the number of people needing healthcare. However, with the growing number of people needing treatment there has not been a sufficient increase in funding to accommodate for this. Resulting in some treatment being postponed or even refused. The funding of the NHS is a fundamental problem, as overspending has risen over the years. Moreover, disagreements between the government and healthcare staff has been prominent, with there being many junior doctor strikes throughout this year. This has led to less people being willing to go into a healthcare job, one of the ways this is depicted this through the fall of applications to medical schools last year. Along with the numerous other factors, cancellation or even not showing up to appointments by patients contributes to the increased waiting times. As a result time and money is wasted.

The action taken to shorten waiting times in controversial. In order to increase the number of patients seen by GPs, appointments time have been shortened to under 10 minutes. Many believe this to be too short of time for a patient to raise concerns to their GPs and for a suitable treatment to be given. In order to combat the overspending, pay of NHS workers has been cut. Though this may of help prevent overspending, sources suggest that there have been more midwives and nurses leaving the NHS than joining, thus resulting in the shortage of staff.

Due to the uncertainty of treatment by the NHS some patients have turned to private healthcare. On the other hand, numerous people are unable to endure the high expenses of private healthcare, leading to many having to carry on waiting for treatment. Lately there was a case in which a couple could not find an NHS dentist for 4 years, and as they could not afford private dental healthcare, they pulled out their own teeth. Incidents like these highlight how the effects of waiting times effect the more financially vulnerable people of society.

As a result of the current long waiting times there have been several negative effects. Hopefully in the foreseeable future this will decrease as more measure are being put in place to combat this problem.

Hope you found this insightful. Thanks for reading.
Written by Aarti Chopra
Universal Medicine

Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40122075
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38859225
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41113507
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/11/nhs-waiting-times-driving-people-to-turn-to-private-treatment
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/03/more-nurses-and-midwives-leaving-uk-profession-than-joining-figures-reveal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38881464

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