Some of it is 2.5 years of Covid, some of it is lack of investment over years, some of it is staff burn out & cost of living combined with years of stagnant wages. Far too many NHS staff are needing food banks.

What can we do? One thing is to wear a mask in public crowded spaces where possible - reduce NHS burden by not getting sick or making others sick (regardless of which virus!).

Another is write to your MP to ask for NHS action!

And - support nurses! /END

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/10/nurses-among-rising-numbers-of-workers-using-food-banks-research-shows

And finally... what is increasingly a broken health care system is - unsurprisingly - having an effect on the health of our population. Adding to the considerable number of people who report being severely affected by Long Covid (ONS reckons about 340K as of Oct 2022).

The number of working aged people economically inactive because of ill health - already increasing pre-2020 - is going up ever faster.

This is bad news for them, bad news for the NHS and bad news for our economy. 8/