A&E departments in ‘complete state of crisis’, UK health officials warn
Senior doctors on Monday said the pressures facing the NHS were “intolerable and unsustainable”, with some of the UK’s accident and emergency departments at crisis point, as the government stressed that reducing pressure on the health service was its “top priority”.
NHS leaders issued dire warnings over patient safety as a combination of rising Covid-19 and flu cases, pandemic backlogs and staff vacancies intensified pressure on a strained health service.
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of British Medical Association, said the situation in the health service was now “intolerable and unsustainable”, accusing the government of ignoring repeated requests to “sit down and talk” with the doctor’s union.
Compounding the crisis, nurses, paramedics and ambulance drivers are set for a fresh wave of strikes later this month.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing, who walked out for the first time in their history in December over demands for a 19 per cent pay rise, will stage further industrial action on January 18 and 19. Unison has confirmed that ambulance workers at five NHS trusts in England will strike on January 11 and January 23.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, urged ministers to negotiate with health unions on pay in order to avoid “more damaging strike action when services will be at its most fraught”.
He added: “Health leaders have been telling us that the pressures their staff are facing are becoming unbearable . . . We need the government to commit to do everything within its power to prevent the NHS from entering the next winter in this same fragile state that has sadly become the norm over recent winters.”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe
