Readers may have noticed the disconnect between their personal experiences of the NHS and the assurances offered by health service bosses that these anxieties are misplaced. In a letter on Monday, three senior figures declared that “people throughout our NHS and social care system are moving heaven and earth to recover ground and reduce care backlogs while dealing with the continuing impact of Covid-19”.
Their efforts are not disputed and nor is the impact on healthcare brought about by the lockdowns, though NHS leaders wanted to extend Covid restrictions, which would have made matters worse.
It is the outcomes that are at issue here. People are having to wait months to see a consultant to diagnose what might turn out to be a life- threatening condition. Cancelled operations, crowded A&E departments, a paralysed ambulance service and the difficulties of getting to see a GP are compounding the problems, and there is no point in the people who run the NHS claiming otherwise.
The fact is that people can see for themselves how the NHS is failing. Everyone has an anecdote pointing to its shortcomings or worse. The officials challenging the experience of millions are engaged in a form of “gaslighting” – defined as making someone question their own reality. We are seeing it elsewhere in the public sector, such as the Passport Office and the DVLA, where myriad stories of diabolical service are shrugged off as misleading or unusual. We see it, too, with assertions that the visa system for Ukrainian refugees has worked well, when everyone can see that it has been a debacle. It needs to stop.
Readers may have noticed the disconnect between their personal experiences of the NHS and the assurances offered by health service bosses that these anxieties are misplaced. In a letter on Monday, three senior figures declared that “people throughout our NHS and social care system are moving heaven and earth to recover ground and reduce care backlogs while dealing with the continuing impact of Covid-19”.
Their efforts are not disputed and nor is the impact on healthcare brought about by the lockdowns, though NHS leaders wanted to extend Covid restrictions, which would have made matters worse.
It is the outcomes that are at issue here. People are having to wait months to see a consultant to diagnose what might turn out to be a life- threatening condition. Cancelled operations, crowded A&E departments, a paralysed ambulance service and the difficulties of getting to see a GP are compounding the problems, and there is no point in the people who run the NHS claiming otherwise.
The fact is that people can see for themselves how the NHS is failing. Everyone has an anecdote pointing to its shortcomings or worse. The officials challenging the experience of millions are engaged in a form of “gaslighting” – defined as making someone question their own reality. We are seeing it elsewhere in the public sector, such as the Passport Office and the DVLA, where myriad stories of diabolical service are shrugged off as misleading or unusual. We see it, too, with assertions that the visa system for Ukrainian refugees has worked well, when everyone can see that it has been a debacle. It needs to stop.