While Rishi Sunak has been distracted trying to solve Brexit problems caused by the Tory Government of which he was a Cabinet member, the country is in disarray.

We are all suffering from the cost-of-living crisis. This has led to strikes in schools, universities, the civil service, the fire service, railways and the NHS.

The NHS is at breaking point after being starved of funds. Average annual financial growth of the NHS since its foundation has been 3.3 per cent.

NHS workers and supporters gather outside Downing Street to protest in December. PIC: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Average growth under the Labour governments between 1997-2010 was 3.6 per cent. By the end of 2008 waiting times were reduced with a median wait of only 5 weeks.

Average annual growth under the Conservative governments since then has been 1.5 per cent. The waiting list in England for non-urgent care in hospitals has reached an all-time high of 7.2 million people with 411,000 people having been waiting for more than one year.

The waiting list already stood at 4.4 million prior to Covid. An NHS leader has been quoted as saying: “We have essentially had 10 years of managed decline. This is not a Covid problem. This is an austerity problem.”

Westminster's Public Accounts Committee has just said that cancer waiting times 'are at their worst recorded level'. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated that in 2022 just over 23,000 people died due to waiting over 12 hours in A&E. Junior doctors, representing virtually all hospital doctors up to consultant level, are to strike in the middle of March for three continuous days.

The present impasse in wage negotiation with the Government's refusal to negotiate with the majority of NHS staff means the crisis is only going to get worse. It is nothing short of a national disaster, but this government just does not care.

NHS strikes are a national disaster and the government just doesn’t care - Yorkshire Post Letters