NHS performance questioned amid junior doctors’ strike in UK
A monthly data released on Thursday shows the National Health Service in England performed its worst in the first month of this year forcing thousands of patients in critical units to wait longer than usual.
According to the report, the NHS struggled to cope with demands for A&E care, hospital beds and emergency ambulances partly because of the traditional winter rush.
A total of 212,136 patients waited more than the maximum four hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E units.
Similarly, more than 26,000 patients including those suffering from hernia and cataract waited more than the supposed maximum of 18 weeks to have planned care in hospital.
Record numbers of cancer patients were also not seen within NHS-wide time limits, with hospitals breaching two of the eight waiting time targets covering the disease.
‘Junior doctors adamant’
The latest report on the NHS failure comes amid a 48-hour strike launched on Wednesday by thousands of medical trainees over pay and working hours. The walkout is the third since health secretary Jeremy Hunt proposed a new contract for junior doctors associated with the NHS.
The action forced the NHS to cancel about 5,000 non-urgent surgeries and urged the people to avoid going to emergency departments whenever possible. An unknown number of consultations also affected at outpatient clinics.
Medical trainees and the British Medical Association (BMA) are angry about a proposed new contract that will see those working longer odd-hour shifts go without compensation.
The government says it will impose the contract starting this summer, but the medical association is seeking to challenge the move in courts.
During previous strikes, many of the 147 BMA-backed picket lines outside hospitals were inundated with support from patients, passing motorists, pedestrians and members of other unions.
The health secretary has so far failed to reach a resolution with the BMA, and recently took on doctors, many of whom responded by threatening to quit the NHS. The BMA is also seeking a judicial review over imposition, though government lawyers have argued this is “misconceived”.
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