A&E doctors’ plea: Declare a major incident on safety risks
DOCTORS at Scotland’s biggest A&E department have urged health chiefs to declare a ‘major incident’ amid fears over patient safety.
NHS bosses were warned that every space in A&E at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow was occupied by patients waiting for beds.
No resuscitation beds were available and there was an eight-hour delay for ambulances waiting to offload patients.
In a series of messages sent to health bosses, one doctor said: ‘We are now unable to provide safe critical care.’
Another read: ‘This is without any doubt the worst shift I’ve worked, and I’ve never been more convinced of real patient harm due to overcrowding and exit block.’
Staff said critically ill patients received ‘substandard care both clinically and from a humanitarian perspective’.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane urged the First Minister to sack her Health Secretary.
He said: ‘This is absolutely jaw-dropping and exposes how lives are being put at risk in Scotland’s flagship hospital under the stewardship of Humza Yousaf.
‘Our NHS is collapsing and the Health Secretary is nowhere to be seen. Nicola Sturgeon needs to intervene and sack him immediately, otherwise patients and staff will continue to suffer dangerous consequences.’
Scotland recorded its worst ever performance times at A&E in the week to December 18, with only 55 per cent of patients seen within the government target of four hours. At the QEUH, just 45 per cent were seen within four hours.
A major incident is declared when the health of the community is under serious threat.
Special measures would be put in place to assist the demand on the health service, such as patients being diverted to other areas. In January, NHS
Grampian said it was preparing to announce a major incident although the move was halted at the last minute.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) refused the request. A spokesman said: ‘We have an escalation policy that would allow us to declare any major incidents and we closely monitor the safety of our departments and patients at all times.
‘Our services, like the whole of NHS Scotland, are facing major pressures including significant Covid, flu and norovirus cases and our staff are doing all they can to meet this demand.
‘NHSGGC is taking a number of actions to support our A&E departments at this time including recruiting staff as available, diverting staff from other activities to support patients arriving via our A&Es and creating additional inpatient capacity.’
Mr Yousaf said the health service was facing ‘one of the toughest winters’ in its history, with flu ‘classified at extraordinary levels’ as well as rising cases of Strep A and other respiratory viruses. He added: ‘Delayed discharge continues to have a major impact in driving up A&E waits.’
Meanwhile, off-duty doctors and nurses were last night urged to report for work at two NHS health boards due to the pressures of acutely ill patients and staff sickness.
NHS Grampian and NHS Borders issued pleas on social media for all available staff to volunteer for extra shifts.
‘The worst shift I’ve worked’
There could scarcely be a more damning illustration of everything that is wrong with the health service in Scotland.
The country’s largest hospital, the Queen elizabeth in Glasgow, urged Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board to declare a state of emergency, only for the board to refuse. Bureaucrats decided they knew better than clinicians on the ground.
Yet the signs are all around that NhS Scotland is in dire straits. The British Medical Association estimates 55 people died avoidable deaths in just one week of December because of excessively long waits in accident and emergency units.
Troublingly, Dr Iain Kennedy, Scottish chairman of the BMA, says there is ‘no way that the NhS in Scotland can survive’ and that many clinicians have told him the service ‘has died already’.
It is alarming to hear such talk but that does not mean it is alarmist. There is ample evidence at every level of health and social care of a system being held together by sticking plasters and staff goodwill. Neither is a long-term solution.
Finding a solution is beyond urgent. Lives are at stake. The health and wellbeing of five million Scots is at stake. The morale of exhausted medics and the sustainability of a quality healthcare system is of paramount importance.
The NhS in Scotland is solely the responsibility of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Government is responsible for finding a solution.
Yet who could have any confidence in this administration to do so? Nicola Sturgeon and her health Secretary humza Yousaf have presided over an explosion in A&e waiting times, chronic understaffing, routine single-crewing of ambulances and patients forced to be triaged for emergency care in hospital car parks.
Waiting time targets are being missed on cancer referrals, child and adolescent mental health, adult mental health, diagnostics and much more.
Mr Yousaf’s NhS recovery plan was supposed to get the service back on an even keel after the pandemic. Sixteen months on, all the indications are that things are actually getting worse.
What is to be done? The first step is surely for the First Minister to admit there is a problem. Not a problem that is worse in england or Wales. Not a problem that would be different with independence. None of that tired and intelligenceinsulting political spin.
A simple, straightforward acknowledgement that things have gone disastrously wrong on her watch.
The next step is deciding whether to commit herself to turning things around. She can only do that by surrounding herself with the best people, listening to the voices from the wards, and being willing to invest political and financial capital in reforming and reviving the health service in Scotland. hard decisions lie ahead.
Change must begin at the top. Mr Yousaf has failed to get a grip on this crisis and appears to view his job as presiding over the orderly implosion of the NhS in Scotland.
Miss Sturgeon must disabuse him of this view. She must tell him to buck up his ideas or clear his desk because things cannot go on like this much longer.