Ned Simons
Tue, 3 January 2023
Downing Street has said the government is “providing the NHS with the funding it needs”, amid warnings of a winter crisis at hospitals.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said deaths of up to 500 people each week could be caused by delays in emergency care.
And the British Medical Association (BMA) has said future of the health service was “balanced on a knife-edge”.
It comes as ambulance staff are set to walk out on January 11 and 23 in a dispute over pay.
Nursing staff will strike for two consecutive days on January 18 and 19.
Asked about the situation in hospitals, the prime minister’s spokesperson said on Tuesday: “I think we are confident we are providing the NHS with the funding it needs – and as we did throughout the pandemic – to deal with these issues.”
The spokesperson said the pandemic was among the biggest causes of the current pressures on the NHS, but also pointed to delayed discharges as a reason.
They added it was an issue the government had “recognised and have been seeking to address this year with additional funding into the system”.
Asked if the PM thought the NHS was in crisis, the spokesperson said: “This is certainly an unprecedented challenge for the NHS brought about, as I say, by a number of factors.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said the current situation was “very difficult” with many trusts declaring critical incidents.
He told the BBC said that over the longer term, the NHS needs “sustained investment”.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, earlier rejected the suggestion the health service did not have enough money. “I don’t agree with that,” he told Sky News. “There’s record investment.”
Tories 'breathtakingly complacency' after trying to blame Covid and flu for NHS meltdown
Government Dismisses NHS Crisis Claims Insisting Health Service Has Enough Money
Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street (Alamy)
Rishi Sunak will not say whether he believes the NHS is in crisis despite mounting pressure on the government to tackle chaotic scenes in hospitals, a growing number of which have declared critical incidents.
The Prime Minister's spokesperson on Monday acknowledged that the health service was facing an "unprecedented challenge" amid widespread reports of overcrowded A&E departments, patients waiting hours and even days for treatment, and cases of oxygen running out.
They added that it would be "very difficult" for a number of people to get access to NHS treatment in the coming weeks, "because of some of these huge challenges that the pandemic in particular has forced upon us".
But they refused to describe the service as being in "crisis" when challenged by reporters this morning, and insisted that ministers had been "up front with the public long advance" that the health service would come under severe pressure this winter.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, has warned there will likely be further cases of hospital trusts declaring critical incidents in the next three months, as surging numbers of flu and Covid cases pile pressure on the health service at a time of staff shortages and strikes over pay and working conditions.
"It seems likely that the next three months will be defined by further critical incidents needing to be declared and the quality of care being compromised," said Taylor. Over a dozen trusts and ambulance services have declared critical incidents in the past few days.
“Some of our members have said their ward staffing numbers are now below minimum levels as they work hard to set up more escalation spaces to support arrivals from ambulances, that they have had instances where their oxygen cylinders have ran out temporarily, and that some of their patients have waited over two days for a bed," Taylor added.
The president of the Society for Acute Medicine, Dr Tim Cooksley, and the president of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, Professor Andrew Elder, said in a joint statement they had “never been more concerned about standards of acute medical care across hospitals in the UK than we are now”.
Sunak's spokesperson insisted the government was giving the NHS the money it needed, however, stressing the health service had received "billions of pounds of additional funding".
"We are confident we are providing the NHS with the funding it needs, as we did throughout the pandemic, to deal with these issues," they said.
"We have been up front with the public long in advance of this winter that because of the pandemic and the pressures it has placed on the backlog of cases, this will be an extremely challenging winter. That is what we are seeing.
"We remain thankful to frontline NHS and care staff who are providing this level of care to the public in a challenging time."
Stephen Barclay, the secretary of state for health and social care, is expected to visit a hospital this week as ministers come under growing pressure to take further action to help the health service.
A report by The Sunday Times over the weekend catalogued numerous examples of delays facing patients at NHS hospitals, including a person waiting more than 30 hours in an ambulance outside Shrewsbury's Prince Royal Hospital, and a patient in York who waited in A&E for a bed for over 40 hours.
Historic strikes by nurses and ambulance workers were held at the end of last year, and a fresh wave of walkouts in the coming months, which could also include junior doctors, is likely to exacerbate delays in care. The government has refused to negotiate with unions who say the NHS pay review body of a 2 percent pay rise cap amounts to a real-terms pay-cut when record high inflation is taken into account.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is calling for Sunak to give nurses a nineteen per cent pay rise, which it says would make up for years of real term pay cuts.
Steve Barclay FINALLY pops up but shamelessly shifts blame for worst ever NHS crisis
Health Secretary Steve Barclay put the blame for the dire situation in the NHS over Christmas onto Covid, Strep A and flu rather than his Government's handling of the health service
Under-fire Health Secretary Steve Barclay has finally broken cover and attempted to shift blame for the NHS crisis onto Covid, Strep A and flu.
The top Tory admitted the dire situation in the health service was not acceptable after several trusts announced critical incidents and ambulances waited hours outside hospitals to transfer their patients.
But he said "a combination of very high rates of flu, persistent and high levels of COVID, continuing concerns particularly among many parents around Strep A" were at the root of the "massive pressures" faced by the health service over Christmas.
He told broadcasters: "There's £500 million of investment this year going into tackling the pressure in terms of social care. So we're putting more funding in. We've got more clinicians, we've got more staff working in the NHS.
"Of course there's a range of factors that we need to do. There's been particular pressures over Christmas because we've had a surge in flu cases, Covid cases and also a lot of concern around Strep A."
But he failed to address the pleas from medics for more support, who warn that a decade of Tory cuts have left the NHS on the brink of collapse.
It comes after No10 refused to accept the NHS is in crisis and insisted the struggling health service has the resources it needs to cope with spiralling pressures.
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Rishi Sunak and his health chief 'nowhere to be found' as NHS faces crisis
The Prime Minister's official spokesman insisted the NHS has the funding it needs to battle a toxic cocktail of winter pressures, Covid backlogs, staffing shortages and looming strikes.
Pressed on whether the NHS was in “crisis”, Rishi Sunak's spokesman said: "This is certainly an unprecedented challenge for the NHS brought about by a number of factors, most significantly the global pandemic."
The spokesman said the Government had been "up front" with the public about the difficulties ahead.
He said: "I think we are confident we are providing the NHS with the funding it needs - and as we did throughout the pandemic - to deal with these issues.
"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."
Critics have accused Mr Barclay and PM Rishi Sunak of going into hiding during the crisis - as neither of the top Tories had made a public appearance since before Christmas.
No10 said the Prime Minister was working in Downing Street this week but did not set out any plans for visits or public activity in the coming days.
Asked what Mr Sunak was doing, his official spokesman said: "He's got a lot of meetings in a normal way but if he has any public facing activity... we will update you in the normal way."
Mr Sunak was last seen in public on a visit to a soup kitchen on Christmas Eve - where he asked a homeless man if he worked in a business.
He has been working over the festive period except for spending Christmas Day with his family.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "Everything’s “quite normal” in the NHS according to the Government.
"This breath-taking complacency does at least explain why Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay are nowhere to be seen. Negligent, irresponsible, and a risk to the public’s health.
Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine said: "This is a national crisis but still Rishi Sunak is nowhere to be found. People are literally dying yet Sunak hasn't even bothered to address the nation, let alone act.
"The country is coming to a standstill with endless strikes and underfunded public services. Brits have lost all faith in this Government. It is just chaos after more chaos with this Conservative Government.
"Rishi Sunak has just weeks to turn this around before the country tells him his time is up as Prime Minister. If he can't be bothered to do this job then he either needs to step aside or call an election so we can finally get him out of Downing Street."
Health Secretary Steve Barclay
Martin Bagot
Stephen Barclay has been accused of passing the buck over the deadly crisis gripping the NHS.
The Health Secretary today blamed it on Covid, the flu and Strep A, despite a decade of Tory underfunding.
Unison union said: “Years of neglect are to blame.”
The Tories were tonight accused of repeatedly ignoring the problems that have left the NHS at breaking point after 13 years of shameful underfunding.
And despite the situation being of No10’s making, Health Secretary Steve Barclay tried to shift the blame on to Covid, flu and Strep A.
It comes as ambulance crews were ordered to leave patients in A&E even if there were no beds, a move branded “unsafe”.
Health chiefs warn patients will be at risk until the Government urgently tackles NHS demand and an exodus of fed-up staff.
Doctor warns patients are dying while waiting in A&E for days because the NHS is 'broken'
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen said: “The Government cannot blame the pandemic and other winter pressures for the unfolding crisis.
“This has been a long time in the making yet the Government has consistently ignored warnings.”
Unison union deputy head of health Helga Pile added: “The Government must stop buckpassing. Years of neglect are to blame. The way to begin fixing this is a boost to NHS pay to stop skilled staff leaving.”
Healthcare consultant Dr Peter Carter, who advises the NHS, said the Tories have been “asleep at the wheel” for a decade. He added: “You’ve got a major crisis. It’s no good people trying to dilute it. You’re now paying for a failure to act on this crisis.”
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused Mr Barclay and Rishi Sunak of hiding away. He said: “Everything’s ‘normal’ in the NHS according to the Government. This breathtaking complacency explains why Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay are nowhere to be seen.”
The Department of Health and Social Care’s weekly media list today showed Mr Barclay had no NHS appearances, but he did emerge for a TV interview.
London Ambulance Service has been told to spend just 45 minutes handing patients over to A&E in a push to get vehicles back on the road, a leaked NHS England email revealed.
It read: “If the patient is clinically stable ambulance clinicians will ensure they are on a hospital trolley or wheelchair/chair and notify the nurse in charge.”
But NHS doctor Rachel Clarke said: “This isn’t safe. Is the proposal merely to pile up more patients in ED corridors?”
The College of Paramedics claims there are “100 or 200 patients who should not be in hospital” but who cannot be discharged due to a lack of social care beds.
Mr Barclay put the crisis down to “a combination of high rates of flu, high levels of Covid, concerns around Strep A”.
