RUNNING ON FUMES
Top doc’s NHS warning Secret plan to cut more
THERESA May has pushed the NHS to the brink of collapse, Britain’s top doctor will warn today.
Dr Mark Porter, who chairs the British Medical Association, will say: “We have a Government trying to keep the health service running on nothing but fumes.”
He will add that patients are being “belittled and bewildered” as access to care continues to get worse.
In the devastating attack, Dr Porter will tell the BMA’s annual conference the NHS is “at breaking point”.
He will also tell delegates in Bournemouth the health service is: “Run by ministers who wilfully ignore the pleas of the profession and the impact on patients.”
Dr Porter will add: “Prime Minister, you ignore the NHS at your peril.” His warning comes as the Mirror has learnt details of unprecedented NHS cuts being plotted in secret.
Proposals include extending waiting times for surgery and scans.
There would also be less spending on patients with severe needs.
A Labour source told the Mirror the party is demanding details of the savage cuts to be made public, accusing the Government of hatching the plans “in secret, with no consultation with patients or staff ”.
Millions of patients will be hit. We revealed this month how hospital trusts in 14 areas are being asked to make the cuts – set for 2017/18. NHS England and NHS Improvement insisted the plans were fair.
The BMA will today reveal it found for the first time that
WORRIED Dr Porter will condemn the Government
more people are dissatisfied with the NHS than satisfied. The survey of 1,031 adults also showed 82% are worried about its future. Only 13% think it will get better.
But the Department of Health hit back at the BMA, saying last night: “This does a disservice to the achievements of NHS staff.” It added “genuinely independent research shows public satisfaction is now the highest for all but three of the last 20 years”.
Shocking recent revelations include Rose Newman, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, telling how A&E overcrowding forced her to put together a makeshift bed out of chairs for her toddler Jack, who had suspected meningitis. They waited in casualty for five hours.