British pop star Rod Stewart paid for several preventive exams for patients suspected of having cancer and got to know the nursing staff. “There has to be enough money to pay these nurses – two years ago we were still clapping for them. They work really hard,” Stewart said on Friday during a hospital visit in her hometown of Harlow, Essex. Nurses, like many NHS health service workers, are in a collective workplace dispute.
Stewart (“The First Cut Is the Deepest”) recently surprisingly announced his charitable intentions on live television, drawing a lot of attention when he vented his frustration with Britain’s Conservative government. “I myself was a Conservative for a long time but I think this government should step down now and let the Labor Party do it,” the 78-year-old singer-songwriter said as he made an unannounced call to a Sky News programme. “In all my years in this country, I’ve never seen it get this bad. Change the goddamn government.”
Stewart, who was also battling cancer, offered to pay for 10 to 20 hospital tests for patients suspected of having cancer. On Friday, he announced that he would also pay for other tests. Waiting times at the national health service are record highs.