British network CBS: The closure turns out to be more deadly than Corona abroad

The British healthcare system has been suffering from a massive backlog for years. This deteriorated rapidly in the period following the first closures in the spring. It was announced last week that up to 6.7 million Britons are awaiting hospital treatment, or one in eight people in the country.

New data from British broadcaster CBS is alarming. In the past four months, more than 1,000 people have died, on average, more than usual. An exception to this is the number of people who have died from Corona, with an average of 500 people per week. Usually 10,500 people die every week in England and Wales.

The British Ministry of Health will investigate the startling data. However, a ministry spokesman believes that the high number of deaths is directly related to the curfew in recent years. After all, at that time, it became very difficult, with the exception of the most severe complaints, to visit a general practitioner.

deferred care

The Daily Telegraph quotes Robert Dingwall, Professor of Health at the University of Nottingham. According to Dingwall, the data matches what he and other doctors warned in early 2020. “We’re starting to see the consequences of late or late treatment, for example, cancer and cardiovascular disease.”

According to Dingwall, this delay or postponement has no direct consequences. “If cancer is not treated immediately, people will not die immediately, but eventually more people will die than they usually do.” According to him, figures from the British network CBS confirm this. The same is true of diabetes, a disease that mainly affects the poorest population. Diabetes will be seen as the leading cause of death for all Britons within a few years. Timely diagnosis can also guarantee a longer life expectancy here.

The figures for the number of additional deaths come at a time when the UK healthcare system is clearly facing major problems. More than ten thousand patients cannot be discharged from the hospital, because there is no reception through social services.

Ambulance services are also facing major problems. Officially, they must answer the call within eight minutes. But in Cornwall, a 90-year-old woman had to wait 40 hours this week, including in a tent of plastic sheeting hastily erected in her garden, before being taken to hospital.

Health Secretary Stephen Barclay is aware of the problems. It plans to employ at least 160,000 nurses in health and social services by the end of next year. According to the Daily Mail, this is mainly due to massive recruitment drives in India and the Philippines.