Health system crisis in the United Kingdom: treatment times are getting longer

Never before in the UK have people in need of emergency care had to wait so long for treatment. Patients suffering from burns, strokes or seizures had to wait an average of an hour and a half in December before an ambulance finally took them in, the British national health service said on Thursday. NHS.

For slightly less urgent cases, such as minor burns, the waiting time was about four hours and 20 minutes. In the emergency departments themselves, the situation was also worrying, with more than half of patients having to wait at least four hours before being treated. The NHS, severely underfunded for years, has been understaffed and stretched thin since the Covid pandemic.