Wes Streeting points NHS collapse warning – ‘cannot assure affected person security’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the health service is facing its worst challenge since the Covid pandemic as resident doctors gear up for a pre-Christmas strike
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned he can’t guarantee patient safety as a surge in flu cases and looming doctors strikes push the NHS to the break of collapse.
NHS figures published on Thursday showed flu cases have hit a record level for the time of year after jumping 55% in a week to an average 2,660 patients in hospital each day last week. It comes ahead
Mr Streeting said the health service is facing its worst challenge since the Covid pandemic as resident doctors gear up for a pre-Christmas strike. The British Medical Association is consulting members on whether to call off the planned five-day walkout due to start on December 17.
The Health Secretary told LBC he didn’t “think there is a lever I can pull” to guarantee the safety of patients in the coming days. Asked if the collapse of the NHS is at “one minute to midnight”, Mr Streeting replied: “Effectively, yeah.”
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He added: “The thing I’m genuinely fearful of is that, even if I throw more money at this situation now, at this time to get through the next week on strikes, there’s only a finite number of doctors and staff.
“There’s only a finite number of care home beds and community based care. So if you’ve got strikes and you’ve got flu and you’ve got all of these trolleys on corridors, and you’ve got demand going up rather than down, I just don’t think there is a lever I can pull, I don’t think there’s an amount of money I can throw, that means I can sit on your programme and guarantee patient safety over the next week.
“And that’s a pretty terrifying position, not just for me to be in, but for the doctors and NHS staff who are confronting that challenge to be in, because they are the ones that are going to be bearing it on the on the front line.”
It comes after the Health Secretary wrote in the Times that the huge jump in flu cases has left the NHS facing a “challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic” and urged resident doctors to accept the Government’s offer and end their actions.
He said: “The whole NHS team is working around the clock to keep the show on the road. But it’s an incredibly precarious situation. Christmas strikes could be the Jenga piece that collapses the tower. That’s why I am appealing directly to resident doctors to accept the Government’s offer.”
