Despite its faults, we in the United Kingdom should be immensely proud of the National
Health Service. Launched in 1948, it was and remains one of the world’s few universal
healthcare services providing free treatment at the point of delivery. Over its close to eighty
years it has had its ups and downs, most significantly during the coronavirus pandemic.
Then, it was close to breaking point and it was its incredible staff who pulled it through, often
at great personal cost.
Being so key to our infrastructure, like the police, the courts and even bin collections, when it
struggles to meet demand or fails to live up to citizens’ or politicians’ expectations it
becomes an easy target for those very people to knock it.
A recent Channel 4 documentary went undercover into South East Coast Ambulance
Service’s call centre to explore the root cause behind delays in sending paramedic care to
those who need it. The pressure on staff was so great they were encouraged to gild the lily
to some callers regarding their prospects of getting an ambulance. It was a tough watch and
I felt desperately sorry for the waiting patients, their families and the staff. Some, in each of
those groups, could be seen or heard crying at their frustration that supply had no chance of
meeting demand. It reminded me of the times my mother and I sat up all night with my very
sick step father, who could not be moved other than by those with specialist training and
equipment, waiting for the more urgent cases to clear before he rose up the list and an
ambulance to eventually arrive.
These delays and extended waiting times are still common and it is never, repeat never, the
fault of those at the front end, striving against the odds to deliver a service which has not
kept up with the demands placed upon it.
However, there are flickers of light at the end of the tunnel which show that innovation and
technology are helping. For months, I have had a foot complaint that affects the tissues on
its sole. Last Monday, my chiropractor thought there might be something more serious going
on so suggested an X Ray. He wrote to my GP, copying me in on the letter. The next
morning I logged on to my surgery’s website, completed the obligatory questionnaire for a
phone or in-person appointment, then pressed send. Just a few hours later I received a text
from the surgery asking me to attach a picture of the chiropractor’s letter as it hadn’t yet
arrived. Almost instantly I received another text to say I had been referred for an X ray which
I could attend at any time they were open. That was it; all resolved in less than twenty-four
hours after my chiropractor picked up the problem. Imagine what that could have been like.
A paper letter sent, a long wait on the phone to make a GP appointment which, as it’s not
the most urgent of cases, might have been a couple of weeks’ hence. Following that
consultation I would have waited for the X ray letter to come through, which might have
involved a further delay and more than likely not been at a time convenient to me. In
essence, due to streamlined systems and maximising digital opportunities it was all resolved
in a matter of days rather than weeks or even months under the old system. And crucially, I
clogged up no waiting lists.
A similar swift response was received by someone I know (I’ll protect their identity) who
called 111 when they had come to the end of their tether with a stomach complaint. After a
swift clinical review they were asked to make their way to the local hospital where, following
a minor procedure, the issue was resolved and they were discharged home. All in a few
hours.
These examples show, not that the NHS is fixed – I doubt it ever will be – but that it’s not just
those on the front line working themselves to the bone to provide world class care. Behind
the scenes, others are developing systems to enable healthcare workers to do their job more
efficiently thereby freeing up capacity to meet the burgeoning demand that inadequate
funding never seems to match.
I originally wrote this for my weekly column in The Argus, published on Monday, 20 October 2025.
