Who remembers that catchphrase, “Build back better”? Certainly not the government which used to utter it. In the midst of the pandemic, they were adamant that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. We thought they meant no more austerity. No more underinvestment in critical public services. We thought they meant they would invest properly in healthcare so as to avoid another catastrophic failure should we be faced with another public health emergency.
Well, that’s all ancient history. If you need a doctor’s appointment to investigate a health worry, good luck to you. Millions, who really shouldn’t, are just giving up, risking dangerously late diagnosis, if one at all. As for routine appointments: you’re just going to have to be patient. When I rang up to book my injection and blood test with the practice nurse, the first available appointment was 27 days away. It’s not an emergency if I have to wait, but for others that delay could be critical.
What is the government doing about this crisis? Missing in action, it seems to me. Too busy playing culture wars and scaremongering about immigration. Hmm, great timing, given that issuing overseas visas is likely to be the sticking-plaster fix in the short term, while we wait for the next generation of trainee doctors and nurses to come through. Interestingly, while the government plays tough on immigration, making all the right noises to keep the voters content, healthcare organisations like mine have set up overseas recruitment teams because the workforce shortfall is so dire.
There’s a reason for that. There are 140,000 vacancies across the NHS, and nearly 50,000 unfilled nursing vacancies. Meanwhile, 7 million people are waiting for treatment. In social care, the situation is just as bad. It’s hardly surprising, when the retail sector offers better pay and and less stress. But the problems continue to escalate, for a decade of this government’s cruel and selfish rule has left behind rising deprivation, in turn increasing pressures on health and social care.
Some might diagnose this as sheer incompetence on the part of our rulers, but alas, all evidence points to it being entirely deliberate, the fruit of ideological opposition to helping people up. We’re not all in it together. Up there, at the top, they’re only interested in helping themselves and their friends, by whatever means. Therefore there will be no, “Build back better,” only slash and burn. A bonfire of the vanities, we might say. There’s crisis all around, on full display, for all to see, but fortunately we can easily be preoccupied, fighting over petty grievances and the latest front in the culture war.
Last modified: 17 January 2023