NHS and social care 'at breaking point', medics and charities warn

The NHS and social care services are "at breaking point", a group of leading medical groups and charities have said.

Writing in the Independent, they said the NHS had been through its "longest and most damaging budget squeeze" ever.

The letter says patient care and staff morale have suffered, adding: "Things cannot go on like this."

It is addressed to the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats - all three parties have made major NHS pledges in recent days.

Leading figures from the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Alzheimer's Society, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Faculty of Public Health are among those who have signed the letter.

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