Thanks to PM, it’s now an all-year-round crisis

IT used to be the case that our health ministers of both ilk, Tories or Labour, faced our winters with a level of dread as a Game of Thrones character, knowing that the expected worst scenario would bring substantially increased pressure to our already financially stretched NHS.

And so, the phrase “Winter Crisis” has become a political event each year.

But this scenario is changing for worst. Under our Tories’ rule of Boris Johnson, this so-called Winter Crisis has now become an all-year-round phenomenon. So, now under Boris Johnson, we are having a summer crisis as well.

The pressure on NHS services has gone beyond pre-pandemic levels, with demand smashing records when hospitals, collectively, and staff were able to operate as they did before Covid.

For example, in July of this year, our ambulance services had a record number of callouts, at 82,000, for life-threatening conditions. Things are even getting worse, as ambulance trusts in South Central, South West, North East and East of England have had to turn to the military for help getting through their evergrowing list of jobs.

Many of those patients have been waiting for an agonising amount of time, partly, as a result of backlogs in treatment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NHS is now having to work through these at astonishing pace, but it is struggling to do everything that is expected of it. It also has around 7,000 fewer beds and staff and, also, because of Covid-19, adopt extra safety procedures.

The strangest thing about this crisis is not that it is taking place out of season. It is the lack of political attention that is being paid to it. Ambulances calling in the Army would usually lead to an almighty row, but there has barely been a peep either from the Tory backbenchers or the Opposition front bench.

There are two obvious explanations for this. Firstly, the situation in Afghanistan is taking up all the current political focus. Secondly, our Parliament is in recess.

Obviously, the biggest long-term problem that our NHS has is it does not have enough staff to fill in all the jobs.

Jeremy Hunt, when he was Health Secretary, did his bit to increase the manning levels but he believes that it still has a chronic shortage.

In his words, “basically it is all about capacity. We need more doctors and nurses than we actually have. And there is no instant solution to that as we know, so the only smart thing to do is to at least solve the longer-term problem by setting up a system to properly train enough of them going forward”.

The understaffing in our NHS is not totally helped by a belligerent attitude assumed by our Home Office under the leadership of our right-winger, Priti Patel.

Two recent examples come to mind. One relates to Dr Hatra Usmani. This 45-year-old had worked for our NHS since 2003. Because of her expertise and experiences, she is now an A&E consultant in Frimsley, Surrey.

She wants to stay closer to her aged parents who are in their 80s and our Home Office, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that she can’t do that. And so, she will shortly leave our NHS and go to another country that will allow her to be closer to her elderly parents. If this isn’t an own goal, I’d like to know what is.

Secondly, amongst other cases, is the case of Dr Shashi Awai, a Nepalese-born doctor, who has stayed in the UK for 16 years and is being deported.

As the headline in the Daily Mail said, “Why is this Nepalese doctor who’s lived in the UK for 16 years being kicked out when the NHS has a staff shortage, has been refused to remain and work in our NHS despite a severe staff crisis?’’

So, whilst the Home Office staff remain completely oblivious of the actual daily needs of our NHS, they continue to make decisions which are harmful to us.

Can we now have a Prime Minister who can control and co-ordinate everything for us?

Is this too much to ask?

Suresh Chauhan, Glen Parva