Britain’s NHS Won’t Get Mended Without Fixing Elderly Care
Britain’s aging population is putting unbearable strains on the health system.
Britain’s NHS is wilting under the burden of caring for an ageing population.
Photographer: Cate Gillon/Getty Images
In pure numbers, the biggest winner of last week’s spending review from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, which allocated departmental budgets for the next few years, was the nation’s beloved but creaking National Health Service. Yet almost before Reeves had finished delivering her House of Commons statement, experts were warning the £29 billion ($39 billion) uplift will prove insufficient to maintain the service in its current form.
If Reeves really wants to solve the problems facing the NHS — and halt the seemingly inexorable cycle of spending more and more money for less and less reward — her government must get a grip on the thorny question of how best to care for elderly citizens who aren’t sick enough to require hospitalization but can’t fully look after themselves at home.