Health care for UK people

More than 150,000 people in the United Kingdom did not receive timely medical care in October due to a crisis in the health care system, primarily due to staff shortages. This was the highest number of patients since 2007, when the country started to record the figures, Sky News TV channel reported.

British National Health Service (NHS) rules require at least 95% of patients to be admitted to hospital within four hours if necessary, but this is now universally flouted. The number of Britons having to wait longer than usual for medical help peaked in October at 30% of all patients.

A total of 7.1 million people were waiting to begin treatment at the end of September, NHS England reports. This is up from 7 million in August and is the highest number since registration began in August 2007.

A total of 401,537 people in England waited more than 52 weeks to start treatment in hospital at the end of September, NHS England said. This is up from 387,257 at the end of August and the equivalent of about one in 18 people on the entire waiting list.

The government and NHS England have set a target of eliminating all waits over a year by March 2025.

Statistics show that 43,000 people have not received first aid for more than 12 hours, the highest number since August 2010.

Experts attribute this situation to the worst staffing crisis in the healthcare system in a decade, caused in particular by low salaries.

At the end of the year there will be the first nationwide strike of nurses and nurses announced by the union. The main demand of the protesters is for higher wages. According to consultancy London Economics, nurses' salaries have fallen by 20% in real terms over the past 12 years.