MP attacks cutbacks amid ambulance wait
CUTBACKS to the NHS over the last decade have left hospitals in the North East “unable to protect patients”, ministers have been warned.
Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah told how some had been forced to wait up to 11 hours for an ambulance as she demanded more cash for health services in the region.
It comes after a number of ambulance services across the country declared critical incidents as Britain faced record temperatures.
Ms Onwurah said: “Of the 22,000 people who visited Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary A&E in May, 13% – over 3,000 people – have faced a wait of over four hours, and last month I know people were facing waits of seven hours.
“We have had people who have had rapid heart fluctuations who have been told that they face a wait of 11 hours for an ambulance and they need to get a cab.
“Isn’t it absolutely negligent of her
Government to leave our NHS unable to protect my constituents, particularly facing a heatwave, and what is she going to do to ensure they have the resources necessary?”
Health minister Maria Caulfield told MPS the Government had given extra funding to NHS 111 to “take some pressure” off ambulance services and was exploring “novel” ideas such as putting GPS in A&E, or paramedics in GP surgeries.
Labour’s shadow health secretary added: “These pressures are not new, average waiting times for stroke and heart attack victims are an hour – patients in the North East were told to call a friend or call a cab rather than relying on emergency services.
“Isn’t it the case that, of course, extreme weather is putting further pressure on our emergency services, but it is 12 years of Conservative underfunding that has left them unable to cope?”
Ms Caulfield again outlined the funding allocations that had been made, but said: “If opposition members think that there’s some magical way of avoiding pressures, there isn’t.”