NHS faces ‘Humanitarian Crisis’
In the past week or so the NHS has experienced extreme winter pressure sparking concerns of a "humanitarian crisis" in its hospital accident and emergency departments. As the number of patients waiting to be admitted continues to rise, hospitals are struggling to cope. Patients have been left on trolleys in corridors and ambulances queue, unable to offload their patients.
These concerns have been raised by the Red Cross who provide vital support to hospitals such as patient transport and home visits to patients when they have been discharged.
Over the last weekend (Saturday 7 January 2017) Colchester General Hospital was one of a number of NHS trusts struggling to cope with the influx of patients. Ambulances that arrived at Colchester General Hospital were diverted to alternative hospitals as the Accident and Emergency department were unable to handle any more patients. This follows worrying feedback from the CQC in September 2016 which saw urgent action taken to help Colchester hospital improve its standards.
Mike Adamson, CEO of the British Red Cross, speaking on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme discussed cuts to social care funding and how this is affecting discharge rates from hospitals. He said "Money is definitely an issue because of all those people who used to get social care support who no longer do,"
"The NHS is doing a fantastic job but needs to be more open to working with voluntary sector partners who can make a real difference to improve the flow of patients through the system and address some of these issues."
TSP Clinical Negligence solicitor Steve Webb said “The staff at Colchester Hospital do their very best in difficult circumstances. The issues are largely manpower and funding, but it is a situation that is far from ideal and obviously leads at times to poor levels of patient care.”
Based in Colchester and Clacton, Essex, Thompson Smith and Puxon provide Medical Negligence advice across East Anglia. AvMA and Law Society accredited specialist Julian Wilson and his team are experienced in handling medical claims from birth injury to misdiagnosis and treatment delay.
If you think you may have been the victim of a medical accident, contact one of our Medical Claims Advisors to find out more about how we can help you with your claim.
Quotes featured in this article were sourced here.