(LONDON) Under pressure to solve the acute crisis in the health system, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday called for a “bold and radical” approach during an emergency meeting with experts and leaders of the sector.
The public health system, the National Health Service (NHS), already strained after years of underfunding, faces a particularly difficult winter, with hospital emergency departments in particular overwhelmed by the twin flu epidemics and COVID-19.
Waiting lists are getting longer for patients who need to undergo operations, in a tense social context, with a social movement of nurses – the first in more than 100 years – and paramedics, against a backdrop of a crisis in the cost of life.
The situation is such that the government, accused of inaction, organized this emergency meeting on Saturday to try to find solutions to the crisis.
In front of health experts and sector officials received in Downing Street, Rishi Sunak, who made health one of his five priorities for the coming year, considered that a “state of mind of status quo will not solve the challenges we face,” according to comments reported by the PA agency.
During the pandemic, we had to be bold and radical in how we did things to get through this. I think we need the same bold and radical approach now.
Rishi Sunak, British Prime Minister
“Together today, we can define the things that will make the biggest difference for the country and every family, in the short and medium term,” he added.
In an attempt to put an end to the strikes which affect health but also other sectors, the government also invited the unions for discussions on Monday.
Nurses are calling in particular for a strong increase in wages to deal with inflation that exceeds 10%.
Ahead of these discussions, the general secretary of the main trade union in the sector, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Pat Cullen, estimated that “the ball is clearly in the court of the Prime Minister”, who must “put some money on the table” to further increase salaries in the current year.