The next time some liberal fool tries to convince you that a “single-payer” healthcare system is the bee’s knees and holds up Britain’s NHS as an example of “free” medical care, feel free to point him to this little snippet:
The NHS is struggling with its worst winter ever as A&E waiting times hit their highest on record, damning figures released today reveal.
New data from NHS England shows the health service is operating at a poorer level than at the same point in 2016, which was branded a ‘humanitarian crisis’ and saw the British Red Cross drafted in to help.
The alarming statistics, collected from between New Year’s Day and January 7, show:
- One in five patients at major casualty units waited longer than four hours – the safe limit set by the Government – to be seen in December
- The statistics showed that for all A&E units, 85.1 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour period – equaling last January’s record low.
- More than 300,000 patients were forced to wait for at least four hours in all A&E units – the highest amount since figures began in 2010.
- Ambulance delays have also risen to record proportions, with more than 5,000 patients left stuck in the back of the vehicles waiting to be transferred to A&E.
- While bed occupancy levels have hit their worst point yet this winter, with 24 trusts declaring they had no free beds at some point last week, the figures show.
With government, when there is over-demand there will always be under-supply, and rationing.