During the build-up to the General Election on December 12th, the NHS was a hot topic in the battle between the Conservatives and the Labour Party.
Despite Boris Johnson’s promises to strengthen the NHS and build 40 more hospitals if the Conservatives retained power, doubts have been raised over his intentions. After Jeremy Corbyn revealed a document allegedly revealing that the NHS had been offered up in a UK-US trade deal, social media was quick to criticise the Prime Minister.
Lewis Abbott, a medical student in Sheffield working for the NHS, says that the consensus amongst NHS workers is that Johnson, who won the election, does not have their interests at heart.
“It seems to be getting worse and worse every day. I don’t work in A&E, but I’ve seen some of the photos and it’s shocking to see that hospitals are in such a bad state. There isn’t enough funding and there definitely aren’t enough nurses. There are so many problems, and I hope it can be turned around, but I just can’t see it,” said Lewis.
Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Jessop Wing, Weston Park Cancer Centre and Charles Clifford Dental are all Sheffield hospitals that have had to make a large number of cancellations to appointments and operations in the last 12 months.
Derek Alderson, of the Royal College of Surgeons, blames underfunding and staff shortages for these last-minute cancellations.
“This is the result of several years of inadequate investment in hospital infrastructure and beds. The number of cancellations reflect significant increases in demand for both emergency and planned care, but despite this the number of cancelled urgent operations remains low set against the millions of operations performed in the NHS each year,” said Professor Alderson.
21-year-old Lewis Abbott feels that if the Prime Minister wants to improve the position the NHS is in, he must follow through on his promises.
“More student nurses can only be a good thing. It’s a great opportunity for students to build a career for themselves and patients are still getting good care. We’ll also need more nurses who have experience in the job, and hopefully a lot of the money will go towards those nurses and the rest to facilities such as beds.”
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