Government urged to take action over increased NHS pressures

Ministers are facing increasing pressure to respond to “intolerable and unsustainable” pressure facing the NHS.

 

Senior doctors have described the NHS as on a knife edge, with some A&E departments in a “complete state of crisis”.

 

Hospitals are experiencing soaring demand, which experts believe is partly driven by winter illnesses like Covid and flu, with NHS England figures showing that some 13 per cent of hospital beds in England are filled with patients with one or other of these illnesses.

 

A number of hospitals have recently declared critical incidents, suggesting they cannot function as usual due to extraordinary pressure.

 

Professor Phil Banfield, chairman of the British Medical Association, called on the government to “step up and take immediate action”, adding that the survival of the UK’s health service was on a knife edge and claimed patients were needlessly dying because of a political choice.

 

He went on to describe the current situation in the NHS as “intolerable and unsustainable”.

 

Chris Hopson, chief strategy officer at NHS England, urged caution when asked about people who may be dying as a result of issues in the health service, and warned against “jumping to conclusions about excess mortality rates and their cause without a really full and detailed look at the evidence”.

 

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 Karen Motley, 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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