This week the Labour party will call an emergency Commons debate on the A&E crisis on Wednesday to "challenge the Government's failure to put a plan in place to ease the growing pressure". Labour say that for 34 of the 37 weeks Jeremy Hunt has been in post, major A&Es in England have missed even the Government's lowered waiting time target. Labour will argue that the Health Secretary's complacency is becoming dangerous. A Freedom of Information request given to Labour has revealed that Jeremy Hunt did not visit a single A&E department until April this year - six months after he was appointed and after the most difficult winter in the NHS for a decade.
Ahead of the debate, in an attempt to force action, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has today written to Mr Hunt asking for his response to practical proposals from front-line NHS staff emerging from last week's A&E Summit called by Labour. And Labour has today called for urgent action on two fronts: to prevent the collapse of social care services; and ensure all hospitals have safe staffing levels. Labour called last week's A&E Summit to re-focus attention on the underlying causes of the crisis after the Government had tried to divert attention with an attack on GPs and the 2004 contract.
Professionals attending the Summit identified cuts to social care as a major cause of the current pressure on A&E. Severe cuts to care packages have resulted in many more patients with dementia being admitted to hospital. In the letter to Jeremy Hunt, Labour has proposed that £1.2billion of the Department of Health ‘underspend’ from 2012/13 be used, over the next two years (2013/14 and 2014/15), to ease the crisis in social care. Labour is calling on the Health Secretary to act on this proposal. Participants at the Summit also raised concerns about a Health Service Journal survey of NHS HR directors revealing that 27% are planning to cut the number of nurses in the next year and 20% are planning to cut the number of doctors. 1 in 3 are not confident they have enough staff to meet demand.
Andy Burnham, in his letter, has called on the Health Secretary to take action to ensure hospitals are operating with safe staffing levels: "In light of the recent HSJ survey of HR directors showing 27% are planning to cut nurses over the next year, will you now take action to ensure that every hospital in England is operating with a safe staffing level?" Staff at the Summit also raised the issue of ‘Black alerts’ at hospitals and said that there were more black alerts in last year’s winter period than over the previous ten years combined.
Andy Burnham, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said: "David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt have failed to show the leadership that the NHS desperately needs. They have wasted precious time picking a fight with GPs instead of producing a practical plan to relieve the pressure. Hard-pressed staff on the NHS front-line will be appalled to learn that the Health Secretary didn't even visit an A&E until he'd been in the job for six months. Jeremy Hunt's complacency is one of the biggest dangers that the NHS faces and it can't be allowed to carry on."
Continuing Mr Burnham said: "That why Labour is showing the leadership that the NHS needs by calling this emergency debate focusing on the crisis in A&E and putting forward practical proposals to ease the crisis. This matter is now urgent as there is clear evidence that the situation could soon deteriorate even further. The NHS cannot take a further round of front-line jobs cuts without putting patients at risk. The Health Secretary must act without delay to ensure that every hospital in England is operating with safe staffing levels. This is a crisis of this Government's own making. Their failure to face up to it shows that you can't trust David Cameron with the NHS."
