Remember how Brexit was going to save the NHS [1]? It has instead worsened the situation [2]. Remember how the previously short-lived PM Liz Truss wanted to drive up the deficit with massive tax cuts [3] instead of, oh I don't know, spendin gmoney on the NHS backlog and staff shortages?
Here's something you may not know: the cost of living situation is a genuine crisis in the UK, Russia's unjustifiable war on Ukraine and the resulting cut in gas supply and rising energy costs have led to the creation of Warm Hubs in the UK [4]. What's a Warm Hub? It's somewhere warm people can go because they literally cannot afford to heat their homes.
This is no doubt contributing to demands on the NHS.
It's wild to see comments even here suggesting Covid lockdowns were the problem. No, the collapses we're seeing in the NHS were the very thing lockdowns avoided.
> Russia's unjustifiable war on Ukraine and the resulting cut in gas supply and rising energy costs
While true, Putin's war is being used as a scapegoat in the UK for poor policy decisions. For a country in Europe with the lowest reliance on Russian gas, we have seen some of the largest increases in energy prices.
It doesn't really matter where the UK's gas comes from. That's not how global commodities markets work. If it was domestically produced you could legislatively do something about it but the UK's gas seems to primarily come from Norway.
Also, the UK has the second-highest dependence on natural gas in their energy mix (after Italy; ignoring Belarus and Russia) [1].
Here's something you may not know: the cost of living situation is a genuine crisis in the UK, Russia's unjustifiable war on Ukraine and the resulting cut in gas supply and rising energy costs have led to the creation of Warm Hubs in the UK [4]. What's a Warm Hub? It's somewhere warm people can go because they literally cannot afford to heat their homes.
This is no doubt contributing to demands on the NHS.
It's wild to see comments even here suggesting Covid lockdowns were the problem. No, the collapses we're seeing in the NHS were the very thing lockdowns avoided.
[1]: https://www.healthjobs.co.uk/health-care-uk/blog/what-happen...
[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/27/brexit-worse...
[3]: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/23/1130782408/how-liz-truss-aggr...
[4]: https://www.lep.co.uk/news/people/cost-of-living-crisis-warm...