THE YORKSHIRE AGENDA ON: HEALTH

CRITICAL UNDERFUNDING of an overstretched health service has prompted a care crisis not seen in living memory.

This winter saw the worst year on record for emergency departments meeting treatment time targets, while patients waited up to 12 hours to be seen in Yorkshire hospitals.

Across the region, almost half of all hospital trusts issued alerts that they were facing serious operational pressures, while patients faced agonising delays – in one case of more than a year – as they waited to go home.

We’ve seen thousands queuing for between four and 12 hours for hospital beds, often on a trolley, chair or in a side room.

But this isn’t just a winter crisis.

Across Yorkshire, people suffering from mental health issues are still being forced to travel up to 60 miles from home for care because of a critical shortage of beds.

Patients have been warned they will have to wait longer for non-urgent operations as a “trade off ” for improved care as the NHS attempts to tackle its emergency provision.

And at several CCGs, restrictions on operations for smokers or the obese have been brought while prescriptions have been slashed for gluten free foods.

The country’s health service is growing and expanding, the NHS has said, facing unprecedented demand coupled with an ageing population and greater expectations. As it faces the biggest shakeup in a generation to plug a £2bn budget black hole in Yorkshire alone, transparency is needed to allay fears that change isn’t a smokescreen for further cuts.

Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), which are part of a five-year plans to plug a £22bn black hole in the health service budget, are coming into force across the country through efficiency savings and new ways of delivering care.

NHS England argues this shift is absolutely vital if it is to live within its budgets, with STPs presenting an opportunity to fundamentally improve patient care.

However, while it is clear that change is needed in our health service, what’s needed is a pledge to invest.

It’s not too late to realign that balance.