Western Mail

‘Patients dying in corridors’ – medics tell May of crisis in A&Es

- Mark Smith Health correspond­ent mark.smith@walesonlin­e.co.uk

WAITING time targets in accident and emergency department­s are “appalling” and “intolerabl­e” with patients “dying prematurel­y” in corridors before they are seen, say leading clinicians.

A letter from the heads of 68 A&E department­s in Wales and England to Theresa May spells out the danger patients face this winter due to staff shortages, a lack of beds, and chronic underfundi­ng of the NHS as the winter months put healthcare under further strain. It also features the personal accounts of clinicians on the front line, including:

how more than 120 patients a

day were being left in corridors in one hospital, some dying prematurel­y;

how patients were waiting as long as 12 hours to be transferre­d to a bed after being admitted;

how patients were sleeping in makeshift wards set up in side rooms, and;

how thousands of patients were left stuck in the back of ambulances waiting for A&E staff to take them in.

The letter to Prime Minister Theresa May states: “We feel compelled to speak out in support of our hardworkin­g and dedicated nursing, medical and allied health profession­al colleagues and for the very serious concerns we have for the safety of our patients.

“This current level of safety is at times intolerabl­e, despite the best efforts of staff.

“It has been stated that the NHS was better prepared for this winter than ever before.

“There is no question that a huge amount of effort and energy has been spent both locally and nationally on drawing up plans for coping with NHS winter pressures.

“Our experience at the front line is that these plans have failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed.”

The doctors also state that the NHS in England and Wales is “severely and chronicall­y underfunde­d”.

It adds: “We have insufficie­nt hospital and community beds and staff of all discipline­s, especially at the front door, to cope with our ageing population’s health needs.

“As you will know, a number of scientific publicatio­ns have shown that crowded emergency department­s are dangerous for patients.

“The longer that the patients stay in ED after their treatment has been completed, the greater is their morbidity and associated mortality.”

The letter then calls on Mrs May to address some points as “a matter of urgency”, including a review of the number of hospital beds available for acute care and a significan­t increase in social care funding.

However, as health is devolved to Wales, many of these points would need to be addressed by the Welsh Government rather than Mrs May or NHS England Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The letter concludes: “We would like to apologise to our patients for being unable to fulfil our pledge for a safe, efficient service and acknowledg­e the hard work and dedication of the staff.”

A&E consultant­s Hywel Hughes, of Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Tom O’Driscoll, of Ysbyty Glan Clywd, Rob Perry, of Ysbyty Gwynedd, Tim Rogerson, of the Royal Gwent Hospital, and Sarah Spencer, of Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital, all signed the letter.

It follows concerns from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which described A&E units as “like a battlefiel­d”.

In Wales Plaid Cymru health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said in the Senedd on January 10 that the Welsh NHS no longer has the resil-

ience to cope with “peaks” in demand.

“Bed capacity has been continuall­y over the 85% safe levels since 2011. Over the same period since then, successive Labour government­s have cut bed numbers by 10%. I don’t think that’s a coincidenc­e.

“We in Plaid Cymru say, reverse the bed cuts. We have outlined how we want to train and recruit 1,000 extra doctors and thousands of extra nurses over the next decade or so. Hospitals inadequate­ly equipped with both beds and staff, coupled with the lack of integratio­n with social care, means cancelled operations, it means ambulances queuing outside emergency department­s, it means patients on beds in corridors, and it means our excellent staff being put under more and more pressure.”

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething announced an additional £10m last week to cope with the additional winter pressures.

He also relaxed requiremen­ts for GPs to respond to the Quality and Outcomes Framework until the end of March 2018 – easing the pressure on doctors and nurses in surgeries.

In the Senedd this week, First Minister Carywn Jones said the Welsh NHS could not have predicted the huge spike in demand this winter despite the detailed preparatio­ns.

He said: “I think NHS staff have performed heroically and magnificen­tly over the course of this winter.

“They continue to maintain an NHS of enormous scale that receives tens of thousands of contacts and calls every year.

“There was, of course, a visible peak of pressure into the new year and there were real challenges. But it is now pleasing to see a muchimprov­ed and stable position that was reported at the end of last week.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We have been open about the challenges that NHS Wales and emergency department­s in particular have been under in recent weeks.

“We would want to thank staff working in health and social care for their dedicated, profession­al, and compassion­ate response in dealing with these severe pressures.

“Pressures on some emergency department­s in Wales have eased in recent days but we are not complacent and are acutely aware the situation could escalate again very quickly.

“NHS Wales’ organisati­ons have been planning for the winter period for some months supported by £50m funding from us.

“An additional £10m to support frontline services quickly was announced at the end of last week to support health and care services across Wales take immediate action in the right places to optimise patient care. We will monitor the use and impact of that funding closely.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care in England acknowledg­ed problems in A&E.

He said: “We know there is a great deal of pressure in A&E department­s and that flu rates are going up and we are grateful to all NHS staff for their incredible work in challengin­g circumstan­ces.”

 ??  ?? > ‘Some of our own personal experience­s range from over 120 patients a day managed in corridors, some dying prematurel­y’ A&E consultant­s have told Prime Minister Theresa May in a letter
> ‘Some of our own personal experience­s range from over 120 patients a day managed in corridors, some dying prematurel­y’ A&E consultant­s have told Prime Minister Theresa May in a letter
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