A&E crisis showing little sign of improving, Government told

Kit Sandeman
By Kit Sandeman
Published 4th Jan 2023, 06:00 BST
Acute pressure on emergency care and throughout the NHS shows little sign of relenting, the Government has been told, as the health secretary was again urged to engage with union bosses over pay.

The current situation, which was described by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine as “intolerable”, is likely causing between 300 and 500 excess deaths a week, prompting calls for the Government to intervene.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS organisations, said the current situation in the health service is “very difficult”, and that the “last thing we need” was more strikes.

“There’s no doubt the situation is very difficult – that’s why many trusts have declared critical incidents.

File photo of staff on a NHS hospital ward.File photo of staff on a NHS hospital ward.
File photo of staff on a NHS hospital ward.

“We are not able to provide the level of service we want to provide…

“The simple reality here is that the health service is caught between the fact that it has limited capacity, particularly when it comes to workforce – 130,000 vacancies – and a level of demand that it is difficult to meet in ordinary times.

“When you add in flu and Covid, which doesn’t just affect patients but also means many staff are off ill, that’s when you get to this very difficult situation we’re in.

“It’s really important that, as ministers return to their desks, they consider ways of reopening negotiations with the trade unions because four days of strikes on top of the situation we’re in now is the last thing we need.”

Ambulance staff are set to walk out on January 11 and 23 in a dispute over pay, while nursing staff will strike for two consecutive days on January 18 and 19.

Meanwhile, there were also warnings yesterday that hospitals were “full of patients who should be elsewhere”, with huge backlogs of people waiting to be discharged.

Richard Webber, of the College of Paramedics, said many hospitals have 100 or 200 patients who should not be there due to being medically fit.

“They should be elsewhere being looked after in social care; they can’t be discharged, which means that the patients in the emergency department can’t be admitted to hospital.”

This was echoed by Sally Warren, director of policy at the King’s Fund think tank, who said tens of thousands of people are waiting for social care assessments, which has an impact on hospitals.

She said yesterday: “while they’re waiting, their condition might deteriorate and they may end up in the NHS system, be that with their GP, with NHS 111, or at the hospital front door”.

Downing Street said yesterday the Government has been “up front” with the public about the pressure the NHS would face this winter.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman acknowledged that the current pressure on the health service was an “unprecedented challenge”.

He added: “I think we have been up front with the public long in advance of this winter that because of the pandemic and the pressures it’s placed in the backlog of cases that this would be an extremely challenging winter, and that is what we are seeing.”