Top doctors are describing the current situation in the NHS is “unbearable” and “intolerable,” as the government’s “political choices” are leading to patients “dying unnecessarily.”
The Prime Minster and the Health Secretary are facing urgent calls to address the growing concerns over the state the NHS is in along with the terrible conditions of emergency care.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has accused the government’s “political choices” which are leading to patients “dying unnecessarily” and it has been reported that around 500 are dying each week.
On Sunday Dr Adrian Boyle, head of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned that around 500 people are dying each week as a result of emergency care delays.
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Dr Boyle warned, “What we’re seeing now in terms of these long waits is being associated with increased mortality, and we think somewhere between 300-500 people are dying as a consequence of delays and problems with urgent and emergency care each week.
“We need to actually get a grip of this.”
Professor Phil Banfield, chairman of the BMA council, said, “The current situation in the NHS is intolerable and unsustainable, both for our patients and the hard-working staff desperately trying to keep up with incredibly high levels of demand.
“The BMA has repeatedly invited the Government to sit down and talk about the pressures on our health service, but their silence is deafening.
“It is disingenuous for the Prime Minister to talk about ‘backing the NHS’ in his New Year message, when his own Health Secretary is failing to discuss how this crisis can be fixed.”
Professor Banfield has called on the government to “step up and take immediate action” to solve the crisis with emergency care in the NHS.
He added, “The Government should deliver on its obligations to the public. It is just not true that the cost of resolving this mess cannot be afforded by this country.
“This is a political choice and patients are dying unnecessarily because of that choice.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the blame starts with the Tory Party and he accused them of “mismanagement” of the NHS.
Streeting said, “Given what we’ve seen throughout Christmas and the new year, not a single government minister, whether it’s the Prime Minister, the Health Secretary, has raised their head or shown their face to say exactly what they are doing to grip this crisis.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said, “NHS staff do an incredible job and we recognise the pressures the NHS is facing following the impact of the pandemic.
“That’s why we’ve backed the NHS and social care with up to £14.1 billion additional funding over the next two years and this winter we have provided an extra £500 million to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds.
“We also awarded a 9.3% pay rise to the lowest earners in the NHS last year.
“The Health Secretary and ministers have met with unions several times and have been clear their door remains open to further discuss how we can work together to improve the working lives of NHS staff.”
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