The NHS crisis is set to get worse after Christmas because of treatments delayed by doctors’ strikes and a surge in flu cases, it has been claimed.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare sector, told The i Paper strikes had taken place at a “particularly challenging” time, with flu levels rising earlier than expected.
Resident doctors will go back to work at 7am on Monday after a five-day walkout triggered by members of the British Medical Association (BMA) rejecting a fresh offer on a pay and jobs from the Government.
The Health Secretary said the “double whammy” of strikes and flu cases posed a “serious threat to the NHS”.
Rory Deighton, director of acute care at the NHS Confederation, said: “These strikes have taken place at a particularly challenging time for the NHS, with flu levels having risen earlier than expected and services already under significant pressure in the run-up to Christmas.
“At present, the NHS appears to be coping under the circumstances but there is a real risk that pressures will escalate in the weeks that follow.”
NHS resident doctors outside Leeds General Infirmary during the November strike (Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)He said appointments cancelled during strike action will need to be rescheduled while the NHS manages the “usual post-Christmas rise in need for healthcare services”, as well as staff being on sick leave.
He added: “It is vital that the NHS is not put in this position again, having to manage disruptive industrial action during periods of peak demand.”
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said December had been an “exceptionally challenging” month for the NHS.
He said: “The double whammy of strike action and flu this December posed the most serious threat to the NHS since I became health and social care secretary.
Your next read
square HEALTH InvestigationCare homes are evicting thousands of vulnerable and older people each year
square ASYLUM SEEKERS AnalysisWhat happens next after more than 41,000 people cross the Channel in small boats
square WORLD AnalysisMaga is out for blood over Epstein – and Trump’s tactics aren’t working
square EPSTEIN SCANDALRoyal Family braced for more Andrew revelations after Epstein bombshell photo
“The health service has only been able to cope because of the extraordinary efforts of the dedicated staff who work in it and the hardest yards are in the weeks ahead as we get the NHS through the busiest weeks of the year.”
Streeting said he does not want to “see a single day of industrial action” in the NHS next year and will be doing everything he can “to make this a reality”.
He added: “My door remains open, as it always has done, and I’m determined to resume discussions with the BMA in the New Year to put an end to these damaging cycles of disruption.”
Hospitals were told to aim to deliver 95 per cent of usual activity during the strike, though health leaders conceded this could be “more challenging due to the onset of winter pressures and rising flu”.
Speaking from a picket line in London, Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the resident doctors committee at the BMA said last week: “I will sit down with the Health Secretary at any point to try and get a deal. I do not want to take industrial action. I do not take this lightly.”
Hence then, the article about nhs crisis to worsen as strike delayed treatments collide with surge in demand was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( NHS crisis to worsen as strike-delayed treatments collide with surge in demand )
Also on site :