A&E IS IN CRISIS ALL YEAR ROUND
HERE’S a birthday treat for royal fans – a still from rare archive footage which shows a young Queen with Princess Margaret, their father King George VI and the family’s beloved corgis.
The image has been released ahead of tonight’s TV spectacular – The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration, hosted by Ant and Dec at Windsor Castle.
The gala features 900 horses and more than 1,500 performers from Dames Helen Mirren and Shirley Bassey, to Kylie and Gary Barlow. It’s bound to be a knockout on ITV from 8.35pm. CASUALTY departments operate in a state of year-round crisis which will get worse unless Jeremy Hunt addresses gaps in staffing, an A&E doctors leader has warned.
Cliff Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, says what used to be viewed as seasonal pressure on the system because of a surge of patients in winter is now an issue in all four seasons.
Dr Mann said: “For too long emergency medicine has been treated as a Cinderella speciality. Unfortunately Cinderella is not going to the ball, she is resigning and seeking work elsewhere. Unless there is immediate action to address the epidemic of rota gaps, patient care will be compromised and the current situation will deteriorate.”
Calling on the embattled Health Secretary to intervene Mr Mann added: “We are now in a permanent crisis which is not going to end unless there is action from the top.”
The warning comes after Addenbrookes, Hinchingbrooke and Huntingdon & Peterborough hospitals in Cambridgeshire issued black and red alerts into May which meant ambulances diverted, operations cancelled and outpatient clinics affected.
Cambridge University Hospitals trust non-executive director Dr Mike More said: “Intensity of pressure is not a new story but it’s unusual to have it at this time of year.”
Addenbrooke’s chief operating officer Evelyn Barker said: “We’ve seen a number of days this month where 350 patients have attended compared to 280 on average.”
And last week Southend Hospital in Essex declared a critical incident because of high numbers of acutely ill and injured patients needing beds. It had been operating at full capacity since the bank holiday weekend.
A Department of Health spokesman insisted: “The NHS is very busy but hospitals are coping well with increased demand... with 21,000 more people seen in A&E within four hours compared to March last year.”