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 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's health service is engulfed in a
"humanitarian crisis" that requires the support of the Red Cross to
use Land Rovers to transport patients, the charity said on Saturday.
Founded in 1948, the National Health Service (NHS) is a source of
huge pride for many Britons who are able to access care for free
from the cradle to the grave.
But tight budgets, an ageing population and increasingly complex
medical needs have combined in recent years to leave many hospitals
struggling during the winter season, sparking headlines about
patients being left to wait on trolleys for hours or even days.
In a statement on its website next to appeals for help in Yemen and
Syria, the British Red Cross said it was now "on the front line,
responding to the humanitarian crisis in our hospital and ambulance
services across the country".
"This means deploying our team of emergency volunteers and even
calling on our partner Land Rover to lend vehicles to transport
patients and get the system moving," said Mike Adamson, chief
executive of the British Red Cross.
The NHS has always been an emotive issue in Britain - one of the
richest countries in the world - and was once described by a former
finance minister as the "closest thing the English have to a
religion".
In recent years charities and opposition politicians have warned
that government cuts to social care have resulted in more elderly
and vulnerable patients being treated in hospital rather than at
home, putting a huge burden on the service.
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The Red Cross said it was working alongside the health service to
support people in their homes to free up beds.
"We've seen people sent home without clothes, some suffer falls and
are not found for days, while others are not washed because there is
no carer there to help them," Adamson said.
A spokeswoman for NHS England said plans were in place to cope with
increased pressure during the winter and that beds were not as full
as this time last year.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Dale Hudson)
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