The CEO of the NHS has cautioned that his organization is currently struggling to maintain safe care due to ongoing strikes by junior doctors. He also warned that any additional walkouts would hinder their efforts to reduce lengthy wait times.
Rishi Sunak’s main focus last year was reducing waiting lists, as the state of the healthcare system consistently ranked high among voters’ worries. But as the NHS faces a doctors’ strike and what is considered to be its most challenging two weeks of the season, there are concerns that future strikes could impede improvements in wait times.
The leaders of junior doctors have stated that they are willing to support additional strikes, despite certain trusts declaring critical situations due to difficulties in managing the stress.
The Observer was informed by Richard Mitchell, CEO of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, that replicating the significant progress made last year in reducing waiting lists would be very difficult if new strikes were to occur.
He stated that we are pushing ourselves to our maximum capacity in order to ensure the safety of our patients during this winter season. Having been a part of the NHS for 22 years and a chief executive for over six, he expressed that the past month has been incredibly demanding in his professional career.
The total number of patients waiting for treatment in England has increased from 7.2 million at the time of Sunak’s promise to 7.7 million in October, according to the latest data. Although there has been a significant decrease in long waits of over 18 months since their peak in 2021, the government failed to meet their goal of eliminating them by April of last year. As of the end of August, almost 9,000 individuals had been waiting for over 18 months to receive treatment.
However, certain trusts, such as Mitchell’s, were successful in decreasing their patient numbers in the previous year. The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust saw a 20% decrease in patients waiting for elective care, a 40% decrease in diagnostic wait times, and a 66% decrease in patients waiting for cancer care. The maximum wait time for care has also been reduced by 50%. Nevertheless, the speaker cautioned that strikes have hindered further progress and that future reductions could be jeopardized by more walkouts.
Although there has been improvement, the speaker believes that there would have been even more progress if there had not been multiple instances of strikes. Despite efforts to prioritize planned and cancer care, appointments have had to be rescheduled. The speaker is still committed to decreasing wait times, but acknowledges that it will be a difficult task.
A number of NHS trusts in England have announced critical incidents due to the ongoing strike, which will last until Tuesday. A few have requested employees to come back to work, citing concerns for patient well-being. This jeopardizes Sunak’s promise to improve NHS waiting times. According to official statistics, the waiting list has increased by 500,000 since the Prime Minister made his pledge a year ago.
Mitchell expressed that the walkout occurred during a particularly inconvenient time. He stated that the beginning of January is typically a busy period and the effects of the walkout have been especially troublesome this week. He explained that emergency departments are currently experiencing high levels of activity and some patients are having to wait for extended periods in ambulances outside the department. This has also hindered the ambulance service’s ability to respond to vulnerable patients in the community. Mitchell acknowledged that this situation has greatly affected morale as they are unable to maintain the desired level of patient care.
According to him, addressing the salary disagreement with junior doctors requires the government to take national action. However, local hospitals are also taking steps to enhance working conditions for junior doctors. He acknowledged that there is still progress to be made as an employer, specifically in ensuring basic necessities such as 24-hour hot meals, easily accessible beverage stations, adequate parking, enough on-call rooms, and reliable wifi.
Source: theguardian.com
