Health

As resident doctors prepare for another walkout, readers responded with a flurry of passionate – and polarised – opinions on the latest NHS pay dispute.Some voiced sympathy for doctors, arguing that pay should have kept pace with inflation since 2008. They warned that failing to restore salaries would fuel burnout, debt, and emigration, further weakening an NHS already short on staff and resources.Others pointed to the gruelling hours and training required, noting that doctors deserve better pay and respect. Several also criticised Health Secretary Wes Streeting for “reneging” on promises.But not all were supportive. Some readers described the 29 per cent pay demand as excessive and out of touch, especially after the 22 per cent uplift secured last year. Many were frustrated by long waits for appointments and poor patient outcomes, questioning whether increased pay alone would improve services.Here’s what you had to say:I have little sympathy for NHS staffTo be honest, over the last 15 years or so, I’ve noticed a significant shift in the attitude of GPs and doctors towards their patients. Often, my GP seems indifferent to my healthcare needs, and I find myself being passed from pillar to post when I need my injection for a specific condition. My GP blames the hospital, while the hospital points the finger back at the GP surgery for not administering it.I’ve also observed a marked change in the attitude of those who handle phone calls. When I need to see my GP, I’m frequently told to book a telephone appointment or given a mere 5 to 10 minutes to discuss my concerns. Often, my issues aren’t truly addressed; it feels more like I’m having a chat with my next-door neighbour rather than receiving proper medical attention. What frustrates me further is that the hospital and GP surgery I attend are often much less busy than they were 15 years ago. Yet, they still offer appointments at least four weeks later. It’s ridiculous! If the government has been playing games over the past 15 years, I believe NHS staff, including those in surgeries, have had a part in it. Therefore, I have little sympathy for NHS staff demanding pay rises that exceed the average UK rates.At present, the NHS seems to think it’s doing a great job, but that’s often not the case. Doctors from countries like Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Mexico, China, Thailand, and Vietnam are often well-trained and willing to work for less, without compromising healthcare services for patients. Meanwhile, our newly trained doctors often have aspirations to move to countries like Australia, the USA, and Canada, which sometimes gives the impression that they feel stuck in their jobs here in the UK.KatherineTateIsBackDo you support the walkout? Let us know your views in the comments.Everyone needs to join with the doctorsEveryone else needs to join with the doctors, stand alongside them and fight against the scourge of low wages that the people of the United Kingdom are expected to accept as recompense for the work they undertake.The doctors are leading the way – people need to get on board or get out of the way.IndythinksterPay and inflationEveryone deserves for their pay to have kept up with inflation since 2008. Everyone includes doctors and other NHS staff.Doctor Outcomes not up to standardIt wouldn’t be quite as bad if the NHS had a patient outcome half as good as most of our comparable European neighbours.Admittedly the NHS is underfunded compared with many Western European countries, but wasn’t Boris supposed to fix everything with his red bus?YetAnotherNameNow they want more?In 2024, junior doctors received an average pay increase of 22 per cent over two years, which translated to an annual increase of between £9,000 and £16,000. Now they want 29 per cent on top of this. Who do they think they are? The nation has finite resources and cannot divert money meant to provide better facilities and medicines for patients into their pockets.Pomerol95 The public will not forgive StreetingNo, Streeting, the public will not forgive you. Doctors were promised pay restoration. You have reneged on that.The English NHS has fewer doctors, nurses and beds per capita than the health services of comparable nations, including Scotland – a crucial factor in determining health outcomes and waiting lists.Not paying doctors adequately is not going to improve that situation. And if they aren’t paid adequately, they will never pay off the vast student debts they have accrued – or they may even leave the country, leaving the public purse to pick up the entire tab as well as losing their not insubstantial investment entirely.NorthwingDoes it make any sense to be a GP anymore?Does it make any sense to be a GP anymore, looking at their salary range? Clever people get paid more elsewhere, for less training (costly) and less work. I missed any plan for this issue in Streeting’s 10-year NHS plan.MpWhat a messWhat a mess, caused in part by the unfortunate fact that the more you pay anyone, the more valuable they think they are. It doesn’t help that the NHS requires doctors to do a five-year degree course and then a couple of years practising, only to be able to prescribe medicine if it’s on the NICE list and they have a blood test to justify it. No wonder doctors have decided to pursue money instead of a rewarding career.Why hasn’t this inept government rolled out computer technology for diagnosis?And freed up doctors to do more interesting and demanding work? What a mess, and not the slightest sign of improvement.MrBishiMy respect is wearing thinNot again. So, junior doctors who are learning and need supervision demand a 29 per cent pay rise. By what rationale did they decide to train as doctors? Students will have researched their potential earnings, but as soon as they qualify, they feel justified in demanding higher than other professional groups.Since Covid, getting to see a trained professional, a GP or specialist, has meant increasingly long waits, investigations delayed, diagnosis and treatments… how long is a piece of string? Many doctors these days only work part-time. If you want more pay, work longer hours. Like the rest of us. My respect for these hard-working professional carers and healers has worn very thin. They demand we respect them – where is the respect for those in need?ChuckiethebraveA huge shift in doctors’ attitudesThere has been a huge shift in attitude among many doctors and reception staff (trained by the GPs to be barriers to care). Out-of-hours care is lousy. A lot of the doctors just don’t care. And remember, the doctors get their medical qualification for peanuts – to become a doctor in the US requires a four-year bachelor’s degree followed by four years of medical training – that’s many hundreds of thousands of dollars of training that must be paid back. Perhaps junior doctors would feel better about their pay if they took a minute to understand the cost of their training to the British taxpayer.AnyoneAfter the pandemic, they deserved a reward — but…After the nightmare of the pandemic, NHS health workers deserved a reward for their dedication under awful circumstances. But doctors need to understand that they were given an unprecedented rise under Blair’s government, that they had a generous uplift last year, and that most other workers have not seen a real rise in their salaries for many years. As someone who has been waiting more than three years to get a diagnosis for mobility problems, I will certainly not be supporting the doctors.SlampsWant to share your views? 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Labour’s recently unveiled 10-year plan for the NHS has sparked a lively debate among Independent readers, many of whom are cautiously weighing its promises against the past.The plan, unveiled last week by Sir Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, includes ambitious goals such as “a doctor in your pocket” through a greatly enhanced NHS smartphone app, 24/7 health advice, easier online appointments, and a shift towards preventative medicine and neighbourhood health centres.When we asked whether you thought Labour’s 10-year NHS plan could deliver real improvements, nearly half (47 per cent) of readers said no, citing a lack of funding, staff, and detail. Another 28 per cent said the ambition is right, but delivery will be the real test, while 25 per cent believed it is the bold, long-term reform the NHS requires.Many said the plans represent a welcome move towards modernising a service often criticised for being stuck in analogue times.Yet, despite the optimism around the digital and structural reforms, several readers remained sceptical about whether the plan could deliver the improvements the NHS so desperately needs, with concerns focusing on funding, staffing shortages, and the lack of detailed delivery mechanisms.With the NHS under constant pressure from an ageing population and rising demand, the question of how these reforms will be implemented was front and centre.Here is what readers had to say about the plan’s prospects and challenges:‘All just empty words and no delivery’I can say that I am going to travel to the Moon and back – but if I don’t say how I intend to do it, how I intend to pay for it, and how anyone will know that I have done it, it is all just empty words and no delivery. The NHS has a huge recruitment/retention problem, and it is going to need tens of thousands of extra staff. In addition, Streeting has run away from Social Care, which is the one thing that will solve the NHS crisis. So like every other plan, it will not be resourced properly – but there will be lots of highly paid executives involved, working out of fancy offices, until the next plan comes along…ListenVeryCarefully‘Prevention is not a quick fix’Prevention work is already undertaken by Public Health departments in local authorities, in collaboration with the NHS. This is absolutely nothing new. Councils spend millions on Public Health preventive work. The problem is that prevention can take years to show an effect or to realise savings for the NHS. Many people don’t seem to get that. Preventive work is not a quick fix. To be honest, I am sick of successive governments and highly funded think tanks producing report after report when we already know the answers.Flossie‘They know the answers’The announcement is very short on detail, particularly on how they will help prevent ill health. Successive governments have commissioned reports on diet, exercise, and active travel for years – they know the answers. Why the reluctance to announce them and any sort of delivery plan?Holly‘Like a nurse reorganising the Houses of Parliament’Again, the government is seduced into reorganising the organisers and office teams. Non-clinical people always do this, and it makes no difference – it’s like a nurse reorganising the Houses of Parliament. Plain hopeless. Emperor’s new clothes.Having been through five of these restructures, I can say they never change or improve anything. As always, they want less clinical activity and more admin…Diane1234‘We can’t afford an NHS that fixes everything’The biggest problem with the NHS is that we want it to fix every ailment – from cuts and scrapes to organ transplants. Sooner or later, we have to face up to the fact that we can’t afford an NHS that tries to fix everything, including things we should take responsibility for, such as obesity.Issuing painkillers to just about every patient who has a procedure is also ludicrous, as paracetamol or ibuprofen costs about 39p a pack in a no-frills supermarket.Using the NHS should be limited to “must do” and “could do” – not “it would be nice if I could use it because I’m too idle to sort out my minor problem myself”.We are nearing the point where we will need to pay a small charge for all the high blood pressure pills and statins issued to the older population. They’re all on them.onmyown‘Primary prevention works – but it’s never been prioritised’Primary prevention has always been the Cinderella service within our health system, because it is not “sexy” and requires hard graft to change attitudes and promote health. But quite simply, it works.As a retired health visitor with more than 40 years in practice, I can categorically state that if you invest in taking health into the community, it will work.For too long, resources have been directed into much more expensive tertiary care. I really hope this time they mean it.HappilyRetiredWoman‘Nothing new’This is nothing new – we’ve been trying to transfer care from hospitals to communities for years (since Thatcher and “care in the community”). This appears to be a blueprint to shut down more hospitals or reduce funding. This isn’t what’s needed – just the opposite.Community services are already stretched. Doctors’ surgeries are reducing services, and waiting times are too long. Pharmacies are closing down and being sold due to a lack of funding.This 10-year plan is just the usual political BS that won’t get to grips with the real problems.ChrisMatthews‘This is the future – and it’s already happening’A very good idea. Not far from where I live, there are two modern NHS clinics where diagnostic procedures are performed without the need to travel miles to the general hospital.This is the future, and this is what has already been done in many more advanced European countries.Pomerol95‘Abolish the CQC – there’s £50m saved’I recently changed my GP because I was unhappy with the service. The contrast between the two services is stark, and I wondered how it could be that there is such inconsistency at such a basic level.My old GP had a CQC rating of “good”, but it was far from that. I dug around a bit and found that the last time the CQC had assessed the practice was in 2016 – nearly a decade ago.The problem with such rating systems, beloved of the competition-obsessed Tories, is that they’re actually worse than useless. They create an illusion of competence where it doesn’t exist.Plainly, it isn’t practical for one organisation to continuously monitor standards throughout the healthcare system, so it should be blindingly obvious that this is not an appropriate way to ensure consistency of service.Abolish the CQC – there’s £50m a year saved.RickC‘District hospitals and prevention – let’s hope it happens’Moving frontline services to community care centres would be a very positive move. Re-establishing the district hospital would be very popular.Shifting the emphasis to the prevention of illness and the improvement of public health systems is also a laudable aim. Let’s hope this can be achieved in 10 years!PaleHorse ‘Lofty ambition, very little detail’I cannot see anything concrete in this statement – plenty of lofty ambition, but very little detail.I like the idea of local health centres providing access to diagnostic services. If they are allowed to invest in new equipment, it will speed up the move to digital services.Moonraker2025 ‘Dangerous to cut cure before prevention pays off’Prevention vs cure is logically all very well – but do we know how to reliably prevent sickness that might put people in hospital? For many conditions, effective systems for prevention might take more than a decade to have much effect.So, no money is saved through needing less for cure for 10 years or more. It is very dangerous to run down curative services until we see the new investment in prevention paying dividends.I suppose Streeting will require the NHS to blame the unwell for not following prevention guidelines – as a sort of “not our responsibility: you did this to yourself”.Simplesimon‘So… it won’t happen’It would take a lot of cash; the NHS doesn’t have it because the Treasury doesn’t have it…It would require the UK economy to improve dramatically… It won’t.Or they could increase taxes, particularly for the wealthy, but they won’t do that, as it would upset their donors – and higher taxes aren’t why the donors put them in power…So… it won’t happen.ScoobytheDog‘Nothing really new here’After spending nearly fifty years working in the NHS, I think this all seems to have been said before. So nothing really new here, but the sentiment is a good one. How to deliver it will be the real test.Sparrow‘Remember Blair’s polyclinics?’If Labour don’t put in the funding and increase the staffing, this latest NHS plan will fail.Remember Blair’s polyclinics, anyone?rcourt130864‘No understanding of cause and effect’There seems to be no vision at all. No understanding of cause and effect. For example, the “food” industry, peddling its processed junk, has made people ill and obese. But rather than tackle the cause, expensive weight-loss drug injections are prescribed. Likewise, the alcohol industry. Either a lack of vision, or the government has been ‘bought off’ by wealthy pressure groups.Heisenberg97‘The NHS is a public service, not a business’It can work – the basic problem has always been that the NHS was never intended to be a business and cannot be run as one. It is a public service. Before the advent of business management techniques (plied by business consultants), it was the envy of the world as a health service, not measured by being a profitable public company-style business.I worked on this well over 20 years ago. Clinical and non-clinical should be treated separately. Fixed assets should be NHS-owned (not government-owned), giving them control over expansion, upgrades etc.Build a model based on the production side and the service side. The production side is more predictable and can be proactive. In the NHS, you could represent this by likening it to a catalogue of products: tests, scans, standard operations (hip, knee replacements etc.), and all post-operative support can be included as ‘products’.The supplier or deliverer of the individual products does not have to be the NHS, but coordination should be through an NHS functional system. The NHS could rent on-site space to a service provider who would, for example, equip an area where scans, x-rays etc. are provided to patients on referral from an NHS-approved doctor on an agreed service contract.I challenge the view that to outsource these services is ‘selling off’ the NHS.The service side of any operation, on the other hand, is always more reactive (as in any business) and needs skilled resources with the flexibility, training, and tools to provide support to the patient.They need the best resources to handle unclassified ‘breakdowns’ and set in motion a recovery plan that covers not just fixing the problem, but getting the patient back to normal (or a new normal).This is the NHS’s core function and is the public service that we all expect.ArcticFox‘Not a plan, just a wish list’First, it almost certainly isn’t a “plan” in the sense that anyone in business would recognise. I bet it is just a wish list of things they want to happen, much like the recently published “Modern Industrial Strategy”, lacking any detail as to how it’s actually going to be delivered, what the key milestones are, who is going to be responsible, what resourcing and cash is going to be dedicated towards it, and what the measures of success will be. Equally, I doubt there is any delivery structure in place, or transformation programme governance, or anything like that.Second, Labour is going to be out of office come 2028 or 2029 for the next 30 years, and whoever takes over from them will almost certainly tear this plan up. They don’t have ten years, and they must know that by now. So honestly, what’s the point in publishing a “ten-year plan”? It’s just performative at this stage.sj99Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article here.The conversation isn’t over. To join in, all you need to do is register your details, then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here. More

In one of the most ambitious health reforms in decades, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has unveiled Labour’s 10-year plan to “rebuild the NHS from the ground up” – shifting treatment out of hospitals and into local health centres and people’s homes.The plan, published on Thursday, promises to transform the NHS from “treatment to prevention,” prioritising early intervention, neighbourhood care, and digital innovation. Under the proposals, new health centres – open six days a week – will offer diagnostics, rehab, nursing, and even debt and employment support, aiming to reduce pressure on hospitals and bring care closer to home.Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called it a “once-in-a-generation” reform that will “turn the NHS on its head.” But critics argue that the vision is far from new – and question whether it can be delivered without significant new funding, staffing, and systemic change.Think tanks like the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust welcomed the plan’s ambition but warned that without clear delivery mechanisms, capital investment, and joined-up working between services, the strategy risks repeating past failures.Now we want to hear from you. Will Labour’s 10-year plan finally fix the NHS? Or is it another big promise without the backing to make it real?Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll above – we’ll feature the most compelling responses in the coming days.All you have to do is sign up and register your details, then you can take part in the debate. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen. More

Big disasters often change how we see the world. The Lisbon earthquake in 1755 shook people’s faith in religion. After the 1918 flu pandemic, there was growing interest in fresh air, better hygiene, and healthier living spaces – ideas that influenced architecture and public health policy at the time.Covid, though? So far, the public inquiry has focused more on WhatsApp messages and political drama than on the bigger lessons. But many Independent readers believe there were lessons, but we haven’t necessarily learned from them.Before the pandemic, there were fears that people wouldn’t cope with restrictions – that “behavioural fatigue” would kick in and we’d all give up. That fear led to delays in lockdown and, in the end, cost tens of thousands of lives.But that view turned out to be wrong. Faced with a shared threat, most people acted with care and responsibility. Communities pulled together. Many went without seeing loved ones, missed work, lost income – all to protect others.Now, readers feel much of that collective effort has vanished. When we asked for your views, you told us that people no longer wear masks on public transport, and sick people are back in offices and schools. The things we learned – about clean air, proper sick pay, the importance of staying home when ill – are being forgotten, even though the virus hasn’t gone away.Many of you told us that the return to “normal” is anything but normal. You’re frustrated by the lack of public messaging, the scrapping of protections, and the ongoing risks, especially from long Covid.Here’s what you had to say:Covid is more like polio than fluUnfortunately, Covid is still here, still causing ill health and disability. Doing nothing is a false economy: in terms of impact, Covid is more like polio than flu – and we don’t ignore polio. We don’t need extreme measures, but good ventilation, FFP masks (especially in healthcare), HEPA filters in enclosed spaces like classrooms, wards, clinics and offices would all make a difference and aren’t difficult. Reversing the removal of NHS vaccination from most groups, and ensuring access to vaccines and antivirals – the norm in other countries that are doing better – is essential.Multiple Covid infections, even if mild, increase the chance of complications, including cardiac, and damage the immune system, making it harder to shake off other infections. Long covid is now the most common illness in US children, and the UK is on the same trajectory, for the same reason. In children, Covid can cause metabolic dysfunction and lead to diabetes. This is all avoidable.HousemartinWe know what to do – we’re just not doing itWe haven’t learned anything. We need clean air in public spaces (especially schools and health settings); proper sick pay; to stop the ridiculous pressure to send infectious children into school; better public information about the benefits of masks and ventilation; use of high-quality masks where appropriate (certainly for people with symptoms, and routinely in healthcare settings and for travel); and vaccines available to anyone who wants one. Affordable tests should also be widely available.We know what to do to reduce the spread of Covid – we’re just not doing any of it.KittensarecuteWe didn’t learn anythingNo, we didn’t learn anything from the Covid pandemic. It was all done through panic. It wasn’t handled right at all, money was wasted, and greedy firms faked the prices to make obscene profits. No medical authority had the faintest clue how to handle it. This must never happen again – separating families, causing misery and sheer panic.We have had pandemics before and will again. Lessons must be learned from that last fiasco and handled totally differently. People will catch it regardless of what they do; it cannot be avoided. Time for a total rethink from these so-called medical experts.AnnieinthecastleLong Covid is the main dangerThe main danger with Covid is getting long Covid. The science says no one is immune to suffering from it, and it’s likely a lifelong chronic condition that could end your ability to work. 3.2 million English people know that is what they are suffering from, and the number goes up every year.The only defence we really have against Covid now, since most of the vaccines have been withheld, is wearing an FFP2/3 respirator, which is hugely effective at stopping infection. These masks also stop hay fever and most other infections as well. People who have started wearing them haven’t been sick in years.PaulCovid could be eradicated – but there’s no willCovid-19 could be eradicated pretty easily in this country with ventilation, investment in proper HEPA infrastructure in all public buildings, a functioning vaccination programme, and – most importantly of all – those who can mask to wear FFP2 or FFP3 respirators when indoors anywhere.If the government could be bothered to protect our public health, it should lock down the country – properly – for a couple of weeks. With all that in place, it would disappear. There is no will or impetus among our leaders to protect us from this incredibly disabling illness.BumblebeeSooner or later, a vicious strain will emergeCovid is here to stay. There is growing consensus it probably escaped from a lab, and it will carry on rapidly mutating – picking off the vulnerable and elderly – saving governments a bit of cash, somewhat offset by the cost of Long Covid.I mask in shops but rarely see anyone else doing so. Sooner or later, a vicious strain will emerge, and we’ll be back to square one.Galileo666Learn from countries like JapanWe should take the findings of other countries ahead of us into account – e.g. Japan on the spread of the virus – and improve ventilation of buildings, trains and buses… even doctors’ waiting rooms in the winter!JenniferCovid is an inconvenient factCovid is an inconvenient fact that governments and the right-wing press prefer to suppress. Sadly, it’s still very much around, and it’s still killing the old, the very young and those with a compromised immune system. It’s also leaving a trail of devastation in the shape of long-term damage caused by long Covid.And all of this relates just to people – there’s also the impact on the economy. Drugs which would have enabled the immunocompromised to live normal lives (hundreds of thousands are still shielding) have been denied by the UK government to cut costs. Drugs like Paxlovid – literally a life-saver for any immunocompromised person unlucky enough to contract Covid – have been made near-impossible to access.The treatment of immunocompromised people by this government and previous ones is shameful. And to cap it all, there are still plenty of clowns around who somehow feel threatened by anyone taking the sensible precaution of wearing a mask, and feel the need to mock or display outright aggression.DavidMSome of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article here.The conversation isn’t over. To join in, all you need to do is register your details, then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here. More