NHS Health Check: Hunt says NHS problems ‘unacceptable’
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has conceded the NHS in England is facing “completely unacceptable” problems.
He said there was “no excuse” for some of the difficulties highlighted during the BBC’s NHS week, and the government had a plan to help hospitals cope.
A series of reports have revealed lengthening waits in AE and patients being left for hours on trolleys.
Sir Robert Francis QC, who investigated failings in Mid Staffordshire, said the NHS was facing an “existential crisis”.
However, in an exclusive interview with the BBC, Mr Hunt said the key was to treat more people “at home and in the community” to ease the burden on hard-pressed hospitals.
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He said there was already a “big transformation programme” under way, but conceded it would take time.
Mr Hunt was speaking at the end of a week in which the BBC has revealed:
- The numbers waiting longer than they should for routine operations has risen by 163% in four years
- Nine in 10 hospitals have had unsafe numbers of patients on their wards this winter
- Record numbers of patients have waited more than four hours for AE care
- The plight of patients left stranded in hospital for months because no community care can be found for them
- Broadcast footage from the Royal Blackburn Hospital showing long waits in AE and a doctor close to tears because she could not provide the care she wanted to
He said: “It is incredibly frustrating for me. I am doing this job because I want NHS care to be the safest and best in the world. That kind of care is completely unacceptable. No-one would want it for members of their own family.”
He said there was “no excuses” for some of the stories that have emerged this week, including the case of Iris Sibley who has been left stranded in Bristol Royal Infirmary for more than six months because a nursing home place could not be found for her.
“It is terrible for Mrs Sibley but it is also very bad for the NHS,” Mr Hunt said.
He went on to say it was “completely unacceptable” – the third time he used the phrase when pressed by the BBC about some of the problems that have come to light.
Mr Hunt said: “We are trying very hard to sort out these problems.”
But he said progress had been “disappointingly slow” in some areas, including integrating the NHS with council-run care services, such as care homes and home help.
He said tackling social care problems – a major reason for why so many frail patients cannot be discharged from hospital – was on the government’s agenda.
“The prime minister has been very clear. We recognise the pressure’s there. We recognise there is a problem about the sustainability of the social care system.
“That has to be addressed and we are going to do that.”
However, Mr Hunt also defended the government’s record. He said extra money was being put in – nearly £4bn this year, which he pointed out was the equivalent to the whole budget of the fire service.
He also said there were “positive” things happening in the health service as well as negative, highlighting improvements in cancer survival and the investment being made in general practice.
And he said all health systems were “grappling” with similar problems because of the ageing population. “There’s no silver bullet,” he added.
‘Depressingly familiar’
However, Sir Robert Francis said the financial pressures on the NHS – together with the high levels of demand – had created an environment in which a care scandal equal to Mid Staffordshire was “inevitable”.
The heath service was “manifestly failing” to keep pace with demand, he told the Health Service Journal.
Sir Robert, who is a non-executive director at the Care Quality Commission, also warned of “depressingly familiar” pressures on NHS chief executives “coming down from the top.”
He said there was an “increasing disconnect” between what is said nationally about the NHS and “what people on the ground feel or see is going on”.
“The message is put out that we are putting more money into the service than we ever did and it is the best health service around.
“But against that there is a front-line feeling that things have never been as bad as they are now and we can’t deal with the pressures,” he added.
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NHS Health Check
A week of coverage by BBC News examining the state of the NHS across the UK as it comes under intense pressure during its busiest time of the year.
- VIDEO: An ordinary hospital under extraordinary pressure
- GRAPHICS: 10 charts that show the NHS is in trouble
- INTERACTIVE: What’s for the chop where you live?