Overcrowded wards, overworked doctors and overburdened emergency services: The British health system NHS is on the ground. Chronically underfunded, the nation's former pride has long since become an emergency room case itself. Nursing and hospital staff are emphatically demanding a significant increase in wages - which the conservative government has so far refused. Now the professional association of nurses, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), is pulling the emergency brake and calling on its members to strike for the first time in its more than 100-year history this Thursday.

The "Nurses", as nurses are called in English, have suffered a 20 percent loss of income since 2010 - as long as the Conservative Party has been in government. The RCN argues that the government's current offer also means falling real wages in view of the high inflation. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasizes that there is no more money. The offer was based on the proposal of an independent advisory body. The "Guardian" criticizes that the government trusts underpaid employees to work more voluntarily - this is "cynical exploitation".

The clinic staff strike is not the only strike currently hitting the UK. There is a strike on the railways, on the post office, and soon the border guards stop working for days. But the NHS strike is far more delicate for the government. Because since the pandemic, nurses have been considered heroes.

In view of the erratic corona policy of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Great Britain was the European country with the most deaths and hospitalizations. The NHS tirelessly cared for patients. Johnson himself ended up in intensive care with Corona and then thanked his lifesavers. Since December 2020, the NHS has organized an internationally recognized vaccination campaign. Children's drawings hung in numerous windows as a thank you. "God save the NHS" is still written on many walls in the country.

But it didn't pay off. In contrast to other civil servants, NHS members received a small wage increase despite corona austerity measures. But now, with huge jumps in energy and food prices driving scores of people into poverty, there is no money for the heroes. More work for that.

The emergency services are also alarmed in Germany. At the beginning of the week, a new alliance warned that the rescue service was collapsing. But the problems in the kingdom are even greater.

The backlog of routine operations has risen from a few tens of thousands to more than seven million due to the pandemic. Around 30,000 operations were canceled in 2021 due to staff shortages alone. Ambulances that are supposed to arrive within 12 minutes for heart attacks and strokes take an hour on average. It's a vicious cycle: Vehicles queue up at emergency rooms to hand over their patients. Hardly a week goes by without reports of people having to wait more than a day for an ambulance. Sometimes they lie on the floor.

Everything should get better with Brexit. "We send £350 million to the EU every week - let's fund our NHS instead," Boris Johnson's Brexit campaign campaigned on a red bus at the time. The number was - like so many other statements - a lie, as Brexiteers later admitted.

There is no money, also because the disastrous financial policy of short-term Prime Minister Liz Truss has shaken the markets' confidence. The government offers further talks, but at the same time makes it clear that it will not talk about wage increases. The fronts have hardened: "Applause doesn't pay bills," emphasize the "Nurses" on their banners, with a view to the nightly applause for the NHS during the pandemic. Support comes from the opposition. Labor health spokesman Wes Streeting has accused the government of cheating patients.

In times of need, Prime Minister Sunak mobilizes the army. Soldiers should take over patient transport. But only about 40 military doctors have the qualifications to work in the NHS, Downing Street admitted. This is not a permanent solution anyway. Another strike has already been announced for next Tuesday (December 20). A day later, the crews of the ambulances also stop working.