SADDLEWORTH’S MP has hit out at the mess the NHS finds itself in, with a report into Royal Oldham Hospital highlighting the Government’s failure.
Debbie Abrahams says she witnessed first-hand a queue of ambulances outside a casualty department when she was on a visit.
And she describes the Conservative administration blaming challenges on the Covid-19 pandemic as ‘disingenuous to say the least.’
Mrs Abrahams, who represents Oldham East and Saddleworth, says her office has been inundated with messages from constituents concerned about forthcoming operations and other treatments.
A recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the trust that runs Royal Oldham deemed it requires improvement overall, and for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led.
Further industrial action has been announced, with GMB and Unison members at qualifying ambulance trusts out on Wednesday, January 11, Royal College of Nursing members at qualifying trusts out a week later and on Thursday, January 19 and Unison members at qualifying ambulance trusts not working on Monday, January 23.
The British Medical Association has begged the Government to inject emergency funding to reduce pressures on the NHS, amid warnings they are causing hundreds of patient deaths each week.
Council chair Professor Phil Banfield argued that ‘is just not true that the cost of resolving this mess cannot be afforded by this country’.
“This is a political choice and patients are dying unnecessarily because of that choice,” he said.
“The Government must step up and take immediate action. Without intervention, waiting lists will continue to grow, patients will continue to suffer, and staff will continue to leave.
“The future of the NHS is balanced on a knife-edge – it is solely within Government’s gift to pull this back from the brink.”
Data collected by the Labour Party from Freedom of Information requests made to NHS hospitals show the impact of 12 years of what it sees as underinvestment in the NHS.
Staff shortages were the most common reason given for cancellation of appointments and surgery by hospitals, accounting for one in five of all operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons in 2021/22.
And Mrs Abrahams said: “The CQC’s report on the Royal Oldham Hospital was clear in its concern of the tremendous burden placed on already pressured staff at the hospital.
“The NHS in England currently has 9,000 vacancies for doctors, with a record 133,000 total vacancies. Of the 6,000 new GPs promised by the government none have arrived in Oldham.
“Despite the shortages of doctors, the Conservative government this summer cut medical school places by 3,000, meaning thousands more students who want to train as doctors are being turned away.
“I have seen for myself the immense strain being placed on our NHS staff. ROH staff are under a level of pressure unlike anything they have seen before and this is impacting on care across the board despite the extra £1.9 million secured to cope with the winter workload.
“The North West Ambulance Service has reported patients waiting for hours in ambulances before being seen in the emergency department, creating long queues outside A&E, something I witnessed myself during a recent hospital visit.
“For the government to defend their NHS policies over the past decade and blame its challenges on the pandemic is disingenuous to say the least.
“The key issues are staff shortages – we need more clinicians and to retain the ones we currently have. Insufficient beds – acute and intermediate care beds – and a social care crisis.
“Whilst NHS funding from the Government has improved recently, because of under-investment over the last 12 years, we are playing catch-up.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised ‘urgent action’ to solve the current waiting times in the NHS.
He said: “I know there are challenges in A&E. People are understandable anxious when they see ambulances queueing outside hospitals
“You should know that we are taking urgent action, increasing bed capacity by 7,000 more hospital beds and more people cared for at home, providing new funding to discharge people into social care in the community, freeing up beds.
“And the NHS is working urgently on future plans for A&E and ambulances.”
However, Mrs Abrahams said if they were in power by scrapping the non-dom tax status: “Labour will address staff shortages and ensure patients can get treatment when they need it by doubling the number of medical school places, training 15,000 doctors a year, training 10,000 new nurses and midwives each year.
“Doubling the number of district nurses qualifying every year and training 5,000 new health visitors.”
Blaming this government for what is essentially the inevitable, “endgame,” of the Blair privatization program, (The Public Finance Initiatives,) is breathtaking hypocrisy even for our, “compassionate,” and, “empathic,” Labour MP.
Although speaking here as one of her constituents I can’t say that I’ve never seen the slightest indication that Debbie Abrahams MP actually possesses either of those qualities ?
Labor’s track record on the NHS which included years of, “the appalling suffering of patients,” at Mid Staff and £14 billion lost to a failed IT project and for which no one was ever held to account was absolutely appalling.
But as an ex NHS manager herself and having spoken to her about our own problems with that organization and it’s private sector service providers it’s become quite apparent to me that when she talks of the NHS who she actually means is the top heavy, overpaid, dysfunctional and unaccountable management and not the front line staff and certainly not the patients.
“I’ll have a word with, my friends at the maybe we can get my name in the paper ?”
Useless.
Can’t say that I’ve never seen – so you have seen those qualities? Quite the nasty attack on an MP who does a lot of good for the area.
I see the classic Tory move to blame the previous government when the Tories have been in power for over 10 years and improved exactly what? Nothing. They’ve just carved it up and tendered out more of it to private companies to reward their mates. So the ill and vulnerable are stuck on waiting lists desperate for treatment. Mid-staffs is the tip of the iceberg.
Let’s not forget the £350 million a day that they promised if everyone voted leave…that’s not only left us worse off as a country but has also created a huge medical staffing shortage.
Just imagine if your man the Billionaire Rishi and all his tax dodging pals actually paid the tax they owed, the NHS might benefit from it.