NHS crisis: the one act of self-sacrifice that could rescue our health service

NHS crisis: the one act of self-sacrifice that could rescue our health service Major alerts, cancer operations cancelled, patients dying, yet Theresa May still won’t listen. But maybe there’s a tipping point that could force a response

From every previous NHS crisis, the tipping point should have come last week. Prime ministers crumple when people die – as they have in the Royal Worcester’s corridors. When opinion polls send concern about the NHS soaring above everything else at 61%, above immigration at 41% and Brexit at 36%, sirens should wail inside No 10. But no, not yet.

When the Royal College of Surgeons protests at cancer operations cancelled, is that a tipping point? When nearly half of all hospitals declare major alerts for lack of beds, that’s an emergency. There’s no winter flu, no Arctic weather, just pressure from underfunding, like an aneurysm about to burst. But the prime minister is not for turning, not yet. Continue reading... The Guardian