Sick baby’s dad confronts Boris & tells him he’s destroying NHS
Parent blasts PM over NHS ‘destruction’
BORIS Johnson was yesterday confronted in a hospital over the state of the NHS by the furious dad of a poorly baby, who said: “My daughter nearly died.”
Omar Salem told the flustered Prime Minister the health service had been “destroyed” after years of Tory rule.
And he accused Mr Johnson of cynically using the hospital for a photo opportunity while patients were forced to endure substandard care.
Mr Salem said his seven-day-old daughter waited two hours for treatment the night before.
“Would you like that for your children?” he asked the PM.
The nature of his daughter’s condition is not clear but he said that she had been “gravely ill”.
In a powerful exchange lasting almost two minutes, he added: “A&E guys were great, but we then came to this ward. It took us two hours.” The hospital’s chief executive later admitted there had been a temporary staff shortage on Tuesday, caused by “an unexpected emergency”.
Confronting Mr Johnson, Mr Salem said the NHS had suffered “years and years” of damage.
He added: “This ward is not safe for children.
“There was one registrar covering the entirety of this ward and the neonatal unit.
“That is just not acceptable, is it? Would you like that for your own children?”
Mr Salem added: “The NHS has been destroyed... and now you come here for a Press opportunity.”
As the hospital’s chief executive Alan Gurney appeared to try ushering the dad away, Mr Johnson protested: “Actually there’s no Press here.”
But Mr Salem gestured to the crews filming the confrontation and said: “You’re telling me there are no Press?
“Okay, well in your La La Land believe whatever you want.”
Photos from the visit, to Whipps Cross in Leytonstone, East London, show Mr Johnson appeared for cameras pouring tea with NHS staff.
Mr Salem’s daughter is believed to be on the children’s Acorn Ward. A shortage of paediatric nurses in 2014 meant outpatient beds there were temporarily cut from 27 to 20.
An NHS-wide staffing crisis has been caused by underfunding since the Tories came to power in 2010.
Annual rises have been below average over its 70-year history.
Mr Salem later tweeted: “Boris Johnson dropped into @WhippsCrossHosp for a press opportunity – so I gave him a piece of my mind about how he is running the NHS.”
He added: “Boris Johnson has been an MP, Mayor of London, Cabinet minister and now PM while the NHS has been neglected, just as my daughter was last night.
“He should get on with properly supporting the NHS so that patients get the care they deserve, there is adequate staffing with good working conditions and worried fathers like me can have some peace of mind.”
Describing himself as a “Labour activist”, he added: “My Labour values are why I back proper support for the NHS. I am not ashamed of them.”
Wes Streeting, Mr Salem’s local
This ward is not safe for children... Would you like that for your children? OMAR SALEM RAGES AT THE PM OVER STATE OF HEALTH SERVICE
Labour MP, said he was a “great” activist but added: “I can tell you that what you saw on TV was the outpouring of frustration from a loving and anxious father.
“He had contacted me late last night about his concerns.”
Whipps Cross was the birthplace of stars including David Beckham, England striker Harry Kane and TV host Jonathan Ross.
It serves more than 350,000 people in East London and Essex.
But Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has been blighted by problems.
In 2015 Care Quality Commission inspectors found a culture of bullying and placed the Trust in “special measures”.
They found some patients were not receiving painkillers when needed, over-stretched employees, substandard treatment of terminally ill patients and too little priority given to patient safety.
In January the CQC finally withdrew its “inadequate” rating but found the trust as a whole “requires improvement”.
However, its finances are crippled by a Private Finance Initiative.
Some 8% or £116million of the Trust’s budget goes on servicing the £1.2billion it borrowed to erect new hospital buildings, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. When it finally finishes repaying the debt the project will have cost it £6.2billion, according to Treasury estimates. Last night a Royal College of Nursing spokesman said Mr Salem’s voice and those of other patients needed to be heard. He said: “This is not comfortable for anybody but it’s a frank conversation the public and politicians need to have.”
Mr Johnson insisted last night he was “glad” Mr Salem had confronted him. The Tory leader said: “Part of my job is to talk to people and listen to what they tell me about the big problems. “It doesn’t matter if they agree with me. “I’m glad this gentleman told me his problems.”