Few would dispute that the Lansley reforms of the National Health Service in England, embodied in the Health and Social Care Act

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问题     Few would dispute that the Lansley reforms of the National Health Service in England, embodied in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, failed. More than 500 pages long, and often opaquely expressed, the legislation stripped control of the NHS from national and local government, and thus from the public, creating a large new bureaucracy to manage healthcare, drive competition and build a regulated internal market. Coming amid fierce spending austerity, the reforms were often seen as the enabler of a program of cuts and privatization. "I could and should have stepped in earlier," David Cameron admitted in his autobiography.
    Disastrous though the reforms have been, and clear though the case is for replacing them, a new attempt at reorganization would be destabilizing without strong support within the NHS that it can be implemented sympathetically. Matt Hancock embarked on such an attempt on Thursday, in his Integration and Innovation white paper. His proposals are unquestionably aligned with the goal that NHS England has been advocating to improve integrated care in the past two years. But Mr. Hancock will have to make a strong case over the coming weeks if the public is to be persuaded that this reorganization is the right priority in health policy.
    That’s because the context is at least as tough today as it was in 2010-11. The NHS is in the middle of the biggest public health crisis it has ever faced. Staff are exhausted
    and there are large numbers of vacancies. Waiting lists for essential interventions are alarmingly lengthening—nearly quarter of a million people are now waiting more than 12 months for treatment. The care crisis is getting worse and there is no clear plan for reform and financing. The economy is on life support, with public money likely to be very tight for years.
    Exactly why this is the right or necessary time to launch a structural reorganization of the NHS is not obvious. Higher spending seems a much more immediate and practical response. Mr. Hancock says that lessons from the pandemic point towards the need for new approach. That may well be true. Covid has cruelly exposed some of the multiple fragmentations in the health service—not just between health and care, but between proactive and reactive health services, between hospitals and general practitioners, and between physical and mental health.
    It is true that the Covid-19 crisis shows the need for better integration. This is something for which NHS England has been pressing, in the form of what it calls integrated care systems. But the largest single example of the current fragmentation—the relative neglect of care homes in relation to hospitals—will remain unaddressed until there is a proper spending programme, which forms no part of the white paper.
Which of the following is true of the crisis facing NHS?

选项 A、The NHS is striving for full employment amid the pandemic.
B、The present situation is less grave than it is in 2010-11.
C、The general public have got used to waiting for medical intervention.
D、The lack of financial support is making the crisis severe.

答案 D

解析 根据the crisis facing NHS定位到第三段。该段内容都在说明NHS面临的危机,其中第二、五句之中都出现了crisis,第二句说NHS正处于有史以来它曾面临的最大的公共卫生危机之中(The NHS is in the middle of the biggest public health crisis it has ever faced.),第五句说医疗危机愈演愈烈,改革和资助没有明确的计划(The care crisis is getting worse and there is no clear plan for reform and financing.),对比选项,可以看出选项[D]The lack of financial support is making the crisis severe是第五句的同义改写,所以正确答案为选项[D]。
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