Polly Morland and Penelope Campling chaired Stephen Law

Author and documentarian Polly Morland and doctor, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Penelope Campling discuss how the NHS got into a crisis over appointments and waiting times and what we need to do to fix it.

In many areas of the UK one in 15 people will wait longer than a month to get an appointment with their GP. Between 2020 and 2021 the number of unsuccessful outpatient referrals, due to a lack of availability of slots, increased by 87%. And in August 2023, 27% of people waited longer than six weeks for a diagnostic test. The NHS is undeniably in crisis. But how has this happened? And how do we fix it?

Morland is a multi-award-winning author and documentarian. Her most recent book, A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story, follows a contemporary GP working in the area in which Morland lives. The novel was described by Times Literary Supplement as ‘an immersive study . . . Morland’s book contains a profound message for the future at a critical moment for general practice and us all’.

Campling ran the NHS personality disorder unit in Leicester for 20 years. She has also authored numerous books and papers, including Don’t Turn Away: Stories of Troubled Minds in Fractured Times, which was described by Iona Heath of the BMJ as ‘a lucid and much-needed articulation of the frustration shared by so many struggling to keep the NHS afloat’.

Discussions are chaired by Dr Stephen Law, a philosopher and academic, author of bestselling introductions to philosophy for adults and children, editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy Journal Think, and the festival’s major projects director.