MP’s experience of a 21-hour wait in A&E may produce results

THERE is nothing to beat first hand experience to bring home how serious a problem really is.

So while no one would wish illness or injury on an MP, the fact that Plymouth Moor View Conservative Johnny Mercer spent 21 hours in Accident and Emergency at Derriford Hospital may, in the long run, do some good.

Mr Mercer, who had suffered a herniated disc in his neck, said that during his long wait on a chair, attached up to a drip, he had plenty of time to “admire the incredible staff.”

But he also said the standard of healthcare, as he personally experienced it, had reached a standard that was “unacceptable for his constituents and NHS staff.”

That is an understatement.

Hardly a day goes by at the moment without one or other health trust, or department within a trust, declaring an emergency of some sort or another.

Ambulance attendance times have become an aspiration in many parts of the country, not a target regularly met, and the waits in Accident and Emergency like the one Mr Mercer suffered are all too common. “Unacceptable” barely covers it.

Mr Mercer is, of course, right that none of these shortcomings are the fault of NHS staff and there is no excuse – however bad the situation – for patients to take out their anger and frustration on them.

The MP wrote: “Plymouth: I know you get frustrated with the waits at Derriford at the moment. Mustn’t blame staff or people who work there.”

That is very good advice.

Mr Mercer has promised to seek “outside interventions” to bring about improvements to the service at Derriford.

He said he accepted £20 million had been spent on the emergency department and improvements were underway. But he added: “Whatever is being done is not being done fast enough or at enough scale to meet the demand.”

He’s right. Mr Mercer says he will meet with local and national representatives from the NHS to discuss a way forward.

Let’s hope he can shake off some of the ideological baggage around the way the NHS operates to come up with some more radical solutions to these long-standing and deeply entrenched problems.

It is right that no one hurls abuse at doctors, nurses or support staff because they are not being seen quickly enough. But no one – nor indeed the NHS system itself – should be beyond criticism, if that’s what it takes to bring about improvements.

Some have long since concluded that root and branch reform is the only way that Britain’s health system can be made fit for the 21st century and a match for others in other parts of the world.

The principle that the service is free at the point of use for all is a good one, and there are powerful reasons to keep it. But if our healthcare is less effective than those with a different way of operating, we need to look at what they do better. Let’s hope Mr Mercer’s experience prompts that examination.