Thousands of cancelled operations across the country, overcrowded local A&Es and new official data suggesting one in 10 UK nurses are leaving the profession each year paint a worrying picture of an NHS under severe strain. But is our health service really in crisis?
We asked people on Lincoln High Street what they thought of the issue.
Some agreed that national headlines this winter were particularly concerning, adding that locally they were also worried about the standards of social care facilities for the elderly and the potential impact of the closure of the Lincoln Walk-In-Centre.
Others didn’t agree with the term ‘NHS crisis’, adding health services are often under pressure at winter and that people needed to avoid resorting to A&E for minor ailments.
Gary Horsewood from Lincoln told The Lincolnite he thought the solution to improving NHS waiting times and retaining professionals in the NHS was to “plough more money into it.”
Paramedic Dawn Roe said: “I wouldn’t say crisis. The NHS is doing what it’s supposed to be doing. It has its issues, but I wouldn’t say crisis.”
She added that she felt the biggest issue was social care. “It’s like a domino effect. People can’t move into A&E until A&E can move people into bed. That can’t happen until people who are in beds can come out into the community.”
Peter Kandall agreed: “Elderly people go into hospital, they’re treated, they’re ready to go out and there is nowhere for the to go.”
In Lincoln, health bosses have warned over a number of days that hospital services have been under severe pressure.
