meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Journal.

Why Is the U.K.'s Free Healthcare Service Falling Apart?

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News, Business News

4.25.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For more than a decade, the British government has run its National Health Service, the world’s largest government-run healthcare system, on a tight budget. Now, hospitals are so full they are turning patients away, and thousands of paramedics and nurses have walked out over pay. WSJ’s Max Colchester explains how budget cuts, Covid delays and an aging population are stressing the system. Further Reading: -The U.K.’s Government-Run Healthcare Service Is in Crisis -U.K. Nurses Stage Biggest Ever Strike as Health System Strains Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

When London hosted the Olympics in 2012, the opening ceremony celebrated all things British,

0:11.6

the Queen, the Beatles, and also the National Health Service.

0:17.2

Please welcome Mike Oldfield and the staff of the United Kingdom National Health Service

0:24.3

and our very special guest this evening, patient star of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

0:30.2

Doctors and nurses danced around the stadium to music while pushing trampolines that looked

0:34.5

like hospital beds.

0:36.8

The British have always had a very emotive relationship with their health care system.

0:40.9

It's some people describe it as a secular religion here.

0:44.6

That's our colleague Max Colchester.

0:46.4

And it's seen as one of the great successes of the British social model to emerge from

0:51.9

the 20th century.

0:54.0

And for that reason, there's a deep, deep attachment to it.

0:57.2

But right now, the NHS is in trouble.

1:01.0

Patients are winning longer than ever for treatment.

1:04.0

And hospitals are turning people away.

1:07.6

If you call the ambulance in December with a heart attack or a stroke, it would take an

1:12.7

hour and a half on average for an ambulance to come to your home.

1:15.9

An hour and a half?

1:17.4

Yeah, on average, yeah.

1:20.1

Are people dying as a result of this?

1:22.1

Yeah, people are dying.

1:24.1

And they're estimates saying that between 350 to 500 people a week were dying because

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.