Sally Griffiths, NHS Unison rep (personal capacity)
To NHS staff, ‘winter pressures’ used to mean the planned-for period of the year during which every level of care, from GPs to hospital trusts, expected an increase in demand.
Now it’s a message to the public that they can expect horrendous waits for treatment and cancellations. And it’s being used by the Labour government to attack resident doctors to try to get them to call off their strike.
NHS bosses have no qualms in continuing their organisational change, which includes frontline redundancies. Perhaps those should be paused whilst winter pressures are dealt with?
It’s also being suggested that somehow these pressures are the public’s fault for not being vaccinated, or not being vaccinated quickly enough. If true, why not give all workers paid time off to go and get their flu jab, and make it free?
The reality is that the resident doctors and all NHS staff are working under severe pressure all year due to NHS funding cuts. Hospital occupancy rates are at 95% year round. There is no buffer for spikes in demand. It’s reported that the ‘optimum’ occupancy level is 85%. ‘Optimum’ for who? 85% is the level at which the risk to patient safety increases. Running bed occupancy at 80% would reduce corridor care, and hopefully unblock A&E. Nursing in the community and primary care have been cut, slowing down discharge.
The crime in these events is that the government and NHS bosses are overseeing the collapse of our health service, and blaming the staff or patients for it! Labour health secretary Wes Streeting has said that the resident doctors’ strike “could be the jenga piece” that “forces” the NHS to collapse. Labour and Conservative governments have been knocking holes in the NHS for decades!
Rather than Streeting’s plans for more privatisation, we need to bring all health services, the big pharmaceuticals and medical manufacturers into democratic public ownership.
NHS workers, from all levels, together with patient groups should be deciding the level of care required and the funding needed to deliver it.
Support resident doctors standing up to Starmer and Streeting. Fight for the funding our health service needs. Make the super-rich pay!
