The vote for Brexit - and the economic and political instability it has ushered in - is a recipe for huge risk and uncertainty for NHS. The repercussions of Brexit may be so catastrophic that it destablises the NHS to the point of disintegration.
I fear for the future of the NHS. I fear for those who need to use it – the old, vulnerable and sick. I fear for those who work in the NHS. Last week’s vote for Britain to leave the EU has not changed the challenges facing the NHS a bit - but it has likely made it much harder to meet them.
What we are left with is confusion and uncertainty. In so many areas the NHS is at a crossroads. It now faces a recipe for indecision which in could harm the service and those it serves. Cuts in the name of “efficiency savings” have eaten away at the NHS to the point where it is down to its bare bones. Health spending is facing almost unimaginable cuts over the next five years. Every health think-tank has been sounding the alarm in recent months. This isn’t shroud-waving – the figures show the NHS is on its knees.
