Hospital consultants write to PM over ‘concerns’
Doctors at hospitals in Shropshire and the West Midlands have raised ‘very serious concerns’ over the safety of patients in a letter to the Prime Minister.
The leaked document sent to Theresa May by emergency consultants claim hospitals are in crisis due to the failure of front line plans to deal with the current winter pressures.
Consultant Subramanian Kumaran, of Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is among those putting their names to the letter. Hywel Hughes of Wrexham Maolor Hospital is also among more than 60 medics listed under the letter.
They describe the compromise of safety at hospitals as ‘intolerable’ and the NHS as ‘severely and chronically underfunding’, while also publicly apologising to patients for failing to ‘fulfil our pledge for a safe efficient service’.
It has been sent to Downing Street as the latest A&E waiting times figures show a further drop in performance at the region’s hospitals in December.
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The letter to the Prime Minister said: “We feel compelled to speak out in support of our hardworking and dedicated nursing, medical and allied health professional colleagues and for the very serious concerns we have for the safety of our patients.
“This current level of safety compromise is at times intolerable, despite the best efforts of staff.
“It has been stated that the NHS was better prepared for this winter than ever before.
“There is no question that a huge amount of effort and energy has been spent both locally and nationally on drawing up plans for coping with NHS winter pressures.
“Our experience at the front line is that these plans have failed to deliver anywhere near what was needed.”
It continues: “The NHS is severely and chronically underfunded. We have insufficient hospital and community beds and staff of all disciplines especially at the front door to cope with our ageing population’s health needs.”
The consultants draw on their own experiences – including patients dying prematurely, waiting times of 12 hours and more than 50 patients waiting for a hospital bed.
It calls for an increase in social care funding to allow patients to be cared in the community, freeing up beds, and a review on the number of hospital beds.
It concludes: “We would like to apologise to our patients for being unable to fulfil our pledge for a safe efficient service and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of staff.”
In response to the letter, a department of health and social care spokesman said more A&E consultants had been employed since 2010, with £2.8bn allocated for further recruitment over the next two years.
He added: “But we know there is a great deal of pressure in A&E departments.”, and we are grateful to all NHS staff for their incredible work in challenging circumstances.
“That’s why we recently announced the largest single increase in doctor training places in the history of the NHS — a 25 per cent expansion.”
