CRISIS OF CRUELTY SERIES: The Business of Sickness

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The Healthcare Crisis

There’s a particular kind of grief that comes with waiting for help that never comes.

And people are very good about waiting. They don’t want to put any more pressure on doctors, nurses and healthcare workers who are already under pressure. Even though they’re lovely with it.

It’s not that the health service is just under strain. It’s a health service under siege of capital, where illness can be alchemised into someone else’s income.

This is the second Horseman of the Apocalyse I’m calling The Drain Game. And he rides straight through A&Es, maternity wards, CAMHS, and care homes, draining time, hope, and health from the people who need it most.

The Evidence: Death by Delay

Let’s put numbers to the nausea:

Over 900,000 people on hospital waiting lists in Ireland. That’s nearly 1 in 5 of us.
Mental health services are running at 57% of recommended staffing levels. And the youth system? Crumbling.
€1 billion+ goes into private healthcare annually, even as public systems break down.
In 2023, over 1,300 people waited on hospital trolleys on a single day. That’s not a system. That’s triage theatre.
And up North? The NHS in Northern Ireland is now the most expensive healthcare system in the UK – yet delivers the worst outcomes. Fewer doctors per capita, longer GP waits, and the slowest cancer treatment pathways in the UK. More money, worse care, less trust.

The Cruelty: Designed Delay, Monetised Despair

This isn’t accidental. This is withholding care to funnel people toward profit.

When public systems are broken, people are forced into private ones. That’s the plan.

Long wait for a scan? Pay privately.
Surgery queue too long? Take out health insurance.
Mental health waitlist years long? Try an app. Or don’t.

And as for frontline staff? They’re drowning. Burnout isn’t a side-effect. It’s a tool. When workers are exhausted, unions are quieter. When hospitals are in crisis, privatisation looks like a solution.

This is The Drain Game in full force:

Public funds prop up a public system.
The public system collapses.
Private players sweep in and “rescue” it. For a fee.

Resistance: The Antibody is Solidarity

You can’t heal in a system that profits from your illness. But you can resist:

Worker Power

Support nurse and paramedic strikes. They’re not just fighting for pay—they’re fighting for a system that works.
Back healthcare unions when they push for staffing, resources, and dignity.

Patient Power

Join or support patient advocacy networks like Mental Health Reform and the Irish Patients Association.
Refuse silence. Share your story. Show how the delay, the loss, the burnout, the grief—all of it—is political.

Radical Rest & Reconnection

Reclaim rest as a right, not a reward.
Lean into health education – from nutrition to breathwork – without blaming yourself for a system that failed you.

If Care Is a Business, Who’s the Customer?

They say “Ireland has one of the best health systems in the world.” But who’s that system working for?

Because if you can’t access it, can’t afford it, can’t survive the wait – then it’s not your system. It’s someone else’s investment portfolio.

But here’s the truth: We built the HSE. Our taxes, our labour, our caretaking. We own it. And we can fight for it—not because it’s perfect, but because the alternative is continued cruelty.

What If We Could Start Over?

Ireland’s Future and a National Health Service for All

While the current systems – North and South – crumble under the weight of patchwork policy and privatisation, Ireland’s Future has dared to imagine something else entirely: a single, all-island national health service, built from the best of both broken models. Their 2023 report lays out a blueprint for a world-class, universal, publicly funded system—one that prioritises care, equity, and accountability over profit. It’s not just wishful thinking. It’s strategy, backed by data, experience, and necessity.

Read the full vision here: Ireland’s Future: An Irish National Health Service (PDF).

Because if we’re going to rebuild the house of health on this island, let’s not patch the cracks. Let’s lay a whole new foundation.

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