Britain's health service is engulfed in a "humanitarian crisis" that requires the support of the Red Cross to use Land Rovers to transport patients, the charity said on Saturday. Founded in 1948, the National Health Service (NHS) is a source of huge pride for many Britons who are able to access care for free from the cradle to the grave.

But tight budgets, an ageing population and increasingly complex medical needs have combined in recent years to leave many hospitals struggling during the winter season, sparking headlines about patients being left to wait on trolleys for hours or even days. In a statement on its website next to appeals for help in Yemen and Syria, the British Red Cross said it was now "on the front line, responding to the humanitarian crisis in our hospital and ambulance services across the country". "This means deploying our team of emergency volunteers and even calling on our partner Land Rover to lend vehicles to transport patients and get the system moving," said Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross.

Copyright Reuters, 2017