Mail cuts pose risk to patient safety, say NHS chiefs

Fears that reduction of second-class service will mean crucial appointments are missed

ROYAL Mail plans to cut second-class deliveries pose a risk to patients’ safety, NHS chiefs warn today, as figures suggest late letters are to blame for a quarter of missed hospital appointments.

Deliveries of post with second-class stamps are set to be reduced to every other day under proposals announced on Wednesday to save the loss-making postal service money.

However, in a letter to The Telegraph, NHS leaders and leading patient groups warn that the “worrying plan” could put patients, already facing treatment backlogs, at risk of harm.

They also reveal that more than two million of the eight million missed hospital appointments last year are thought to be the result of patients receiving a letter informing them of their appointment after it was supposed to have taken place.

In a letter to The Telegraph, the chief executives of NHS Providers, Healthwatch England, the Patients’ Association and National Voices, said: “We have raised direct concerns with Royal Mail that this worrying plan may worsen patient safety risks.

“Provisional Healthwatch data suggests that more than two million people may have missed medical appointments in 2022-23 due to late delivery of letters, and this will only deteriorate under the proposed new plans.

“We have made it clear that if the plans go ahead, a solution must be found to prioritise the huge numbers of letters sent from NHS teams, otherwise more people will miss time-critical appointments, appointment changes or vital test results.”

Many types of NHS letters, such as time-sensitive appointment bookings, test results, and treatment plans, currently use second class stamps.

The NHS is contending with an official backlog of 7.6 million, while data from the Office of National Statistics released this week found that the true number of people waiting for an appointment, test or procedure may be as high as 9.7 million.

Last week, the annual British Social Attitudes survey found that public satisfaction with the NHS had dropped to its lowest level on record, with fewer than one in four happy with the service. The public’s unhappiness was driven by GP and dental practices, but reflected across all services.

Data published yesterday revealed that one in four ambulances were waiting outside A&Es for longer than half an hour to hand over emergency patients and preventing paramedics from attending new cases, when the target is 15 minutes.

Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers which represents hospital trusts, ambulance services, primary care networks, said the proposals to delay letter deliveries were “extremely unhelpful”.

“It’s really important that patients be updated at the earliest opportunity on

The active chemical in magic mushrooms should be made available on the NHS as a mental-health treatment, a former Labour frontbencher has said.

Charlotte Nichols said she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a violent crime. “You can’t cure PTSD as such,” she said. “But there is clear real-world evidence that psilocybin therapy can get people to a point where they no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for the condition, which means that they no longer have to live with it in the same way.

“I think this is something that I would very much like to see available on the NHS.”