NHS patients being put at risk by “endless winter”

The annual British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing conferences have brought warnings that the NHS is stuck in an “endless winter” and hospitals are struggling to cope, with pressures putting patients at risk.

The BMA conference was warned of a drastic shortage of beds and that hospitals were “bursting at the seams”, and the RCN conference was warned of patients being treated in storerooms and corridors.

BMA leader Dr Mark Porter said that hospitals were dangerously full and that hospital beds had been cut by over 20% in the last ten years. He added that there was an “increased risk” of infections and patients were less likely to end up on the correct ward.

An ENT surgeon told delegates “Patients are being harmed because they are being sent home as there are no beds available.”

Janet Davies, general secretary of the RCN, said the NHS was trapped in an “endless winter which was creating chaos”.

An emergency care nurse from West Yorkshire added “I can’t say, hand on heart, that you will get safe care at the next emergency department you need to go to.”

However, a spokesperson from the Department of Health said that the NHS was “performing well despite the additional pressures” that it was being placed under.

“Patient safety remains our priority and we are determined to make the NHS the safest and most transparent healthcare system in the world.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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