How can the government prevent a ‘two-tier’ system over NHS care?

As more people look towards private treatment, dealing with workforce shortages will help reduce health inequalities from growing further, says Rebecca Thomas

The NHS needs more staff to cope with the post-pandemic backlog (Getty)

In a YouGov poll last year almost a third of respondents said they had had difficulties accessing NHS care during the Covid-19 pandemic – with a significant number of these saying they had used some form of paid-for alternative.

The figures are not surprising given the scale of challenges the NHS has faced in the last two years. With Covid all but shutting access to facets of routine care down during the first and second waves. The NHS now reportedly faces a care backlog of 9.2 million by 2024.

Given this climate, where some patients face waiting months and perhaps years for care, it is no surprise some are a looking towards more speedy diagnosis within private hospitals.