Health secretary told A&Es today, to focus on patient safety, over the 4 hour waiting time target. This was after NHS England bosses warned the public about the (normal) impending winter crisis; this time including a potential ‘quad-demic’ this winter.
Wes Streeting MP has held urgent talks with NHS England leaders, about how the service will cope with an impending winter crisis, amid signs that it is already under intense pressure.
At the meeting today – on Monday, 9th December – the health secretary told the Chief Executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, and the bosses of large hospital trusts to prioritise patient safety over trying to meet waiting time targets.
He convened the meeting days after NHS England said hospitals faced being overwhelmed by a potential ‘quad-demic’ of flu, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus (diarrhoea and vomiting bacterium.)
There is mounting alarm that more than 2,000 of the service’s 100,000 beds are already filled with people with COVID-19 (1,390) or norovirus (756), and another 142 occupied by children with RSV; and ambulance services struggling to cope with the number of 999 calls they are receiving.
Streeting said:
We inherited a broken NHS that saw annual winter crisis as the norm. This year, we’re seeing record pressures on services as we move into winter. This winter I want to see patient safety prioritised as we brace ourselves for the coming months.”
