UK health service under pressure despite pandemic promises

In April last year, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the doctors and nurses who saved his life after he spent days in hospital intensive care with Covid-19.

In an emotional address on television, he promised all the necessary funds for the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which is Europe's biggest employer.

But 12 months on, frontline health workers said that promise rings hollow and they feel "betrayed", as experts warn the system is imploding for lack of investment.

Even before the global health crisis hit, the NHS - a cherished national institution funded by taxation and providing free healthcare -- was already under severe strain.

"The NHS had just finished the most difficult winter. We were behind on delays of treatment, on all metrics," said Stuart Tuckwood, nursing officer for the public sector union Unison.

Hospitals then had to cope with two devastating waves of Covid-19 that stretched staff to the limit and put capacity at breaking point.

Since Britain's outbreak began, more than 127,000 people have died after testing positive for the disease -- one of the worst death tolls in the world.

Staff are physically and mentally exhausted, said Tuckwood.

"Then the government has indicated that all it's going to offer is a one-percent raise for NHS workers. It feels like a massive betrayal," he told AFP.

The proposed pay increase has caused anger far and wide, prompting calls from the main opposition Labour party -- which set up the NHS in 1948 - for a much bigger award.

Even pop star Dua Lipa weighed in at this week's Brit Awards, saying frontline workers should be given a "fair pay rise".

A British Medical Association survey of 2,100 staff indicated that more...