‘A ticking time bomb’: healthcare under threat across western Europe

Health workers in Madrid demonstrating against privatisation, staffing shortages and difficult working conditions. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

For decades, western Europe’s national healthcare systems have been widely touted as among the best in the world.

But an ageing population, more long-term illnesses, a continuing recruitment and retainment crisis plus post-Covid exhaustion have combined, this winter, to create a perfect healthcare storm that is likely to get worse before it gets better.