'Devastation of our NHS has to stop - doctors deserve better pay and conditions'

14 January 2023 , 20:40

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Doctors and nurses are at breaking point (Image: Getty Images)

The crisis engulfing the NHS continues to intensify.

We’ve all seen the headlines.

The ambulance delays, the waiting lists, the backlog.

It’s impossible to get the sheer scale of what’s going on.

Until you hear from the medics – those on the frontline.

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They paint a picture that is nothing short of a nightmare.

And it is taking its toll.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that, behind the headlines and stats, there are human beings.

These medics are at their limit.

The horror of what they are going through as a matter of routine is building up.

Today, we reveal more than half our NHS doctors are grappling with mental health issues.

Ambulance workers will walk out again this month after unsuccessful pay talks (SWNS)

A junior doctor told us he needed counselling and told of colleagues having panic attacks.

Another told us at the end of a week of 12-hour shifts, she faced the choice of heating or eating.

This has to stop.

Medicine has always been a vocation. People enter it because they are driven to help.

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And they endure less than ideal conditions because they care.

But how can they care for us when the Government is not caring for them?

Patients are waiting hours

The Government needs to listen. The doctors and nurses, the paramedics – the whole system – can’t take any more.

Undo the 13 years devastation unleashed on our NHS will take something monumental.

Start with more beds. More staff. Better pay and conditions.

If this Tory Government can’t do it – won’t do it – it’s time to make way for one that can.

This is our NHS. We won’t let you destroy it.

Honour this soldier

In 2018, suffering with PTSD, Nathan Hunt took his own life.

The warrant officer served with Prince Harry in Afghanistan.

His parents wanted his name added at the National Memorial Arboretum. The MoD said no.

Nathan Hunt served with Prince Harry (EMPICS Entertainment)

We back their campaign to get Nathan the recognition he deserves – and so, it seems, does Buckingham Palace.

A letter of good wishes from the King has given them hope.

Nathan’s name should be where it belongs, alongside others who gave so much.

Voice of the People