he Minister of Health has blamed a large number of flu cases, Covid-19 and Streep A fears the special pressure that the health service facing Christmas.
Steve Barclay’s comments come as senior doctors say the NHS is on the cutting edge, with many A&E units struggling to keep up with demand and trusts and ambulance services reporting critical incidents.
Mr Barclay acknowledged the situation is unacceptable but attributed the “particular pressure” over Christmas to “a spate of flu cases, Covid cases and also a lot of concern about Strep A”.
He told broadcasters: “£500 million will be invested this year to tackle social care pressures.
“So we put in more money. We have more clinicians, we have more staff working in the NHS.
“Of course there are a number of factors that we need to do. There was particular pressure over Christmas as we’ve had a flurry of flu cases, Covid cases and also a lot of Strep A concerns.
Mr Barclay also said the Government is aimed at freeing up hospital beds and creating more capacity, as this relieves pressure on the emergency department and ensures that ambulance transfer times are reduced.
He said people have become more hesitant to go to their GP due to Covid, adding: “That in particular has had an impact on cardiovascular risk.”
Mr Barclay added: “There are also other factors in terms of the backlogs of operations.
“Yes, it’s important that we get the ambulances to the people quickly as well, but there are a number of factors that have come into play, particularly with those cardiovascular deaths, which is the main issue when we look at the challenge in terms of excess deaths.
There was particular pressure over Christmas as we’ve had a flurry of flu cases, Covid cases and also a lot of Strep A concerns
“So this is something that the medical director, the medical director of the NHS has looked very closely at.
“That’s why we’re so focused on getting the people out of the hospital who don’t need to be there, because that, in turn, will speed up ambulance handover delays and get those ambulances back to responding to calls.”
Asked why he won’t be giving NHS staff a real pay rise given the record number of vacancies, Mr Barclay said the government is “focusing funding on clearing backlogs in operations, for example by setting up more diagnostic hubs, the surgical hubs we are rolling out, reducing the backlog caused by the pandemic.”
Employment and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride also called for “wage moderation in the public sector”.
He said: “We have great sympathy for nurses, who are doing an extraordinary job day in and day out, tirelessly across the country, yet are looking for 19.2%, which is 5% higher than the level of inflation that is now falling. , I’m afraid it’s priceless.”
Asked if it’s time to talk to union leaders about wages, Mr Stride said: “However, the more general point here is that we need to have wage moderation across the public sector.
“Now they were treated as a special case by the nurses. They received a wage increase of 3% during the period when (the) public sector generally had a wage freeze.”
It is painful and irritating to be in this position – especially for patients and for our members who struggle every day on the front lines
He added: “So we did what we could, but the main point is if we don’t get inflation under control, if we allow public sector pay to run off with itself, eventually we will get some kind of pay. price spiral phenomenon, which is very difficult to get out of once you are in it.
“And that will impoverish all of us because inflation is going to be so high, especially people like retirees and people on fixed incomes.”
Ambulance personnel will leave consecutively on January 11 and 23 due to pay rises, while nursing staff will strike on January 18 and 19.
Pat Cullen, general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “We see emergency rooms in a dangerous state, social care is overstretched, primary care is suffering and staff are really broken.
“The government cannot blame the pandemic and other winter pressures for the crisis unfolding before our very eyes – it has been worked on for a long time, but the government has consistently ignored warnings.
“It is painful and irritating to be in this position, especially for patients and for our members who struggle every day on the front lines.
“One of the main causes is the worsening workforce crisis, with nurses leaving en masse due to a decade of real pay cuts.
“Without enough staff, patients will never be safe. Yet the Prime Minister and his government continues to refuse to even meet with us to discuss pay.
Helga Pile, Unison’s deputy head of health, stressed that the “NHS is on its knees like never before” before adding: “The government’s failure to address the staffing crisis is at the heart of the problems patients harm every day.
“The government must stop passing money on. Years of neglect is to blame. The way to start solving this mess is an immediate increase in NHS salaries to prevent skilled staff from leaving.