Problems in Worcester are happening across the NHS, says UNISON

Bad planning, a desperate lack of funds and the ever-growing demand on NHS services led to the crisis situation in Worcestershire Royal Hospital last week, which saw the West Midlands Ambulance Service forced to deploy its ‘disaster doctor’ to help relieve the pressure on the hospital’s overwhelmed A&E department, says UNISON.
 
Commenting today (Friday) on the incident, Christina McAnea, UNISON’s head of health, said: “When the ambulance service is forced to draft in a doctor that it only usually calls upon when there’s been a major disaster just to help on a normal day in Worcester’s A&E under-pressure department, it’s clear that things have gone horribly wrong.
 
“But while the situation in Worcester is particularly extreme, a lack of funding and cuts in staffing – at a time when more and more people are calling upon A&E departments when they fall ill or injure themselves – is slowly developing into crises in hospitals up and down the country.
 
“It’s no wonder that a recent UNISON survey suggests that long hours, staff shortages and the mental demands of the job mean nine in ten (91 per cent) of ambulance workers say they are suffering with stress. And as the ambulances stack up outside A&E departments unable to deliver theirpatients, the whole system slows down – and in the case of Worcester almost grinds to a halt.
 
“With the election now under three weeks away, sorting out the many problems this government has helped create in the NHS is the issue uppermost in voters’ minds.
 
“Despite all its assurances, ministers simply haven’t put enough money into the NHS. We are now beginning to see what happens when you starve the health service of the cash it needs.
 
“Staff who are care desperately about providing a good service to the public feel increasingly unable to cope with the demands being made of them. Patients are being left for hours on end – sometimes not even able to get inside the A&E department because there are so many people waiting ahead of them. This isn’t what you’d expect from a 21st century healthcare system – patients and staff deserve much better.”