NHS leaders warn of Easter ‘as bad as any winter’

Health chiefs are warning that the NHS is facing the “brutal reality” of an Easter as bad as most winters, with staff said to be working “flat out” to deliver treatment amid near-record waits for A&E and planned surgery.

 

The number of patients arriving at Accident and Emergency departments has been steadily rising over the last ten years, driving in part by an ageing and growing population.

 

Over the last twelve months, the proportion having to wait a long time to be treated has been increasing to record levels.

 

Analysis from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has found that in the last week of March, 44 per cent of patients had to incur a wait of longer than four hours to be seen, treated and then either admitted or discharged, compared with 19 per cent in the same week in 2019.

 

Around ten per cent of patients had to wait for longer than 12 hours, the highest level since the data was first collected in 2015.

 

Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the RCEM, has said “I have never seen it as bad as it is now.  Long waits in emergency departments cause harm because a patient’s condition may deteriorate and there may not be the staff there to notice.

 

“It makes everybody really anxious, and we know that people are not getting the care they deserve.”

 

The pressure on the system is seen most acutely when patients need to be moved from the emergency department to a ward, increasing numbers have spent hours waiting on trolleys and in cubicles because there is no room in the hospital.

 

Staff shortages, a lack of care in the community and the fact that running hospitals has become more difficult because of Covid infection-control measures, all play a role in this.

 

Earlier this week, Matthew Taylor from the NHS Confederation, which speaks on behalf of healthcare providers in England, said “The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter.”

 

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence claims, providing support and guidance after life-changing events.  Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

 

If you believe that you or a relative may have been injured as a result of clinical/medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our medical negligence solicitors on the freephone number below.

 

Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

 

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