Widespread reporting over the weekend of a major crisis in the NHS has led to claims by both the prime minister and the education secretary that descriptions of current conditions in some NHS hospitals have been exaggerated.
Nonetheless, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to have to respond to questioning in parliament over what the Red Cross has described as a ‘humanitarian crisis.’
The British Red Cross, which is sometimes called upon to support the work of hospitals and ambulance services, has claimed that the organisation had ‘a duty’ to express its concerns over the increasing pressures on the NHS and the impact of this on patient care.
Shockingly, it is believed that a man died from an aneurysm while on a trolley, and a woman died of a heart attack after waiting for 35 hours in a corridor, both in Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Fifty NHS trusts across England last month warned that they were struggling to cope with increasing demand on their services.
Adding to calls for government intervention, both Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, and Dr Mark Holland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, have expressed concerns that more patients could suffer as a result of the increasing pressure on hospitals across England at this time of year, alongside shortage of beds and staff.
Dr Hassan commented, “Overcrowded departments, overflowing with patients, can result in avoidable deaths.”
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