Time to put the NHS at centre of this election
NHS services in the North East must take centre stage during the General Election campaign.
That was the message from the region’s union bosses after the area experienced one of its worst winters on record in A&E.
Throughout the country, there has also been record levels of people delayed leaving hospital, rising waiting times and slower cancer treatment – and this increased pressure is felt most by both NHS staff and patients using their local hospitals.
Claire Williams, regional convenor for Unison in the North East, said the NHS “needs to be at the absolute core of the conversation over the next few weeks”.
She said: “We have tremendous hospitals in this region and dedicated health staff, but if there’s not enough capacity in the system then targets will not be met.
“Our trusts are having to make difficult decisions because of completely unreasonable funding cuts and efficiency targets from central government.
“There’s no way you can continue to have reductions in funding and deliver on quality.”
The North East’s health bosses reported its busiest winter period on record as packed A&E departments struggled to cope with “unprecedented demand.”
In February we reported that 100,000 people visited the area’s emergency departments in December.
One in 59 people arriving at Northumbria Healthcare in the first quarter of 2010 waited over four hours to be admitted, discharged or transferred, but in the last quarter of 2016, it rose to one in 12 as performance dropped 7% over the period.
Even in the last quarter of 2015, it was one in 20 patients facing waits of more than four hours.
According to government targets, just one in 20 people should be experiencing waits of more than four hours, with a target than 95% should wait less than four hours.
Every hospital trust in the region has seen a drop in the proportion of people waiting less than the four hours since 2010, with a 7% drops in South Tyneside and County Durham and Darlington as well.
There were 48 people delayed leaving Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals on the last Thursday of February, five times the nine delayed in August 2010, the earliest month available.
Dr Jeremy Rushmer, executive medical director at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said this winter had been the busiest on record for the entire NHS.
He said:“It is important that we all recognise and thank the efforts of every single member of staff, not just here at Northumbria, but across the whole region, who have worked tirelessly to put the needs of patients first.
“It is thanks to their hard work, commitment and dedication to patient care that the North East continues to be the best performing in the NHS.”
The trust also pointed out that there had been a 20% increase from 2009/10 to 2016/17 in the number of people attending – equating to over 30,000 more people using services.