May apologises to patients as ambulance service faces crisis
Friends and relatives are urged to help avoid 999 callouts
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has apologised to the tens of thousands of patients whose operations have been delayed in the mounting winter crisis in the NHS as new figures revealed the scale of the challenges facing hospitals.
Statistics released yesterday revealed delays in ambulances delivering patients to A&E departments in England had reached their highest level of the winter, as those waiting more than an hour nearly doubled in a week. Bed occupancy rates also rose to well above the recommended 85 per cent level at hospitals.
In Yorkshire, it emerged the region’s ambulance service was asking GPs to establish if patients’ relatives or friends could safely take them to hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance to ease the strain on paramedics.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) reported a surge in 999 callouts and calls to the non-emergency NHS 111 line compared to the same period a year ago.
Mrs May was speaking after NHS bosses had urged hospitals to postpone non-urgent procedures until the end of January and concentrate on A&E care.
The move could see an estimated 55,000 procedures delayed for a month or more.
During a hospital visit in Surrey, Mrs May said: “I know it’s difficult, I know it’s frustrating, I know it’s disappointing for people, and I apologise.”
She has maintained the NHS is “better prepared for this winter than ever before” despite calls from doctors’ leaders and unions for more funding.
The YAS said 999 calls rose from 27,500 in the last week of 2016 to 29,000 between December 23 and January 1. In the same period, the service took 71,000 calls to NHS 111, compared to 63,000 a year ago.
Dr Steven Dykes, YAS deputy medical director, said: “Like other ambulance trusts and hospitals, we are experiencing a very busy period. As part of measures to help alleviate the high demand for emergency ambulances, we have asked GP colleagues who are referring patients to hospital for further assessment to check whether patients’ family or friends are able to transport them rather than use our resources.”
Leeds Teaching Hospitals reported bed occupancy rates of more than 90 per cent on each of the last five days of the year.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said a lack of staff meant many hospitals were overcrowded and unable to open extra beds.
Glenn Turp, the RCN’s regional director, said: “NHS trusts across Yorkshire and the Humber are at bursting point, with over 90 per cent of beds being used by many hospitals, well above the recommended 85 per cent limit.
“A lack of beds for new patients is a major factor contributing to the current severe pressure on the NHS, but it’s simply impossible for trusts to open extra beds without the nurses to staff them and care for patients.”
The vomiting bug norovirus was also adding to the pressures. Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust has had two wards closed to new admissions.
Greta Johnson, lead infection prevention and control nurse, said: “While it’s not unusual for hospitals to experience cases of norovirus at this time of year, any associated ward closures do temporarily reduce the number of beds available to us, thereby impacting upon patient flow through the hospital.”
THERESA MAY has clearly been caught out by the scale of the challenge facing the NHS as admissions are delayed and operations cancelled – her apology during a hospital visit came 24 hours after the Prime Minister denied that the National Health Service was in “crisis”.
Yet, while Mrs May’s appearance was carefully choreographed to show that she’s in charge and listening to the concerns of patients, warm words alone will not suffice. The sick and injured want to know precisely what the Government intends to do to ease the current pressures.
Although the last Budget did secure some extra funding, it’s clearly not been sufficient to enable NHS managers to put in place robust action plans that minimise hold-ups – the acute anxiety felt by those left in limbo as they await consultations, test results and operations can be immense.
Three specific pinchpoints clearly need to be addressed. First, GP and out-of-hours cover needs urgent attention in order to alleviate some of the pressures – hospital casualty departments should only be dealing with the most urgent cases.
Second, it’s naive to suggest that ambulances are being misused by the ‘walking wounded’ and so on – most people make their own way to A&E. The issue is the length of time that paramedics have to wait with their patients until they are admitted. Some hospitals have very good triage systems. Others do not. Why?
Finally, there would be less pressure on hospitals if so many beds were not being occupied by patients, invariably elderly, frail and vulnerable, who can’t – for whatever reason – be released due to serial shortcomings in the social care system.
These are not new problems. These difficulties have been getting steadily worse every year, which is why the current crisis is now said to be unprecedented in its scale. As such, Mrs May should be ordering Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, to present an action plan to Parliament next Monday that addresses these challenges – and for Opposition MPs to cooperate where possible. This shouldn’t be about party politics. For some of the patients concerned, the decisions currently being taken could – literally – be a matter of life or death.