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Theresa May denies 'humanitarian crisis' in Britain's NHS Theresa May denies 'humanitarian crisis' in Britain's NHS
(about 4 hours later)
Theresa May has rejected claims by the British Red Cross that the NHS is facing a “humanitarian disaster” as hospitals and ambulance services struggle to keep up with rising demand. Theresa May has rejected a claim from the British Red Cross that the NHS is in the midst of a “humanitarian crisis”.
Two patients died after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors over the new year and the charity said it was responding to a crisis in the health system. In her first interview of 2017, the prime minister said she did not agree with the term used by Mike Adamson, the British Red Cross’s chief executive, to describe the situation created in NHS hospitals by the pressure for services over the winter period.
Labour and Lib Dem politicians have called for May to announce an emergency rescue plan amid a chorus of warnings that hospitals and GP services across England have reached breaking point. She also indicated that she would be resisting the call from Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, to make an emergency statement on the issue when MPs return to the House of Commons on Monday.
But in an interview on Sky News on Sunday, May denied there was a humanitarian disaster in the NHS and refused to confirm whether she or the health secretary would appear in parliament this week to answer MPs’ questions. Asked about the “humanitarian crisis” claim in an interview with Sky’s Sophy Ridge, May said: “I don’t accept the description the Red Cross has made of this.”
“I don’t accept the description that the Red Cross has made on this. Yes there are pressures on the NHS ... we recognise those pressures,” May said. Paying tribute to the 150,000 NHS staff who she said were working on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, May acknowledged that the NHS was facing “significant pressures” that she attributed to an ageing population.
She said an ageing population meant the NHS was facing big challenges but that it had received “record funding” over recent years. But she insisted that the NHS had drawn up its own five-year plan to address these, which she claimed the government was funding.
“There are pressures in the NHS, we see those pressures. We have an ageing population, this brings pressures, particularly in the interface between the health service and social care. “We have an ageing population and this brings pressures particularly in the interface between the health service and social care,” she said.
“We have taken some immediate steps in relation to that issue but we are also looking to ensure best practice in the NHS and looking for a long-term solution to what has been a problem that has been ducked by government over the years.” Referring to the recent decision to allow councils to raise council tax to fund social care, she added: “We’ve taken some immediate steps in relation to that issue but we are also looking to ensure best practice in the NHS and looking at a long-term solution to what has been a problem that’s been ducked by government over the years.”
The British Red Cross issued its warning earlier this week while the British Medical Association (BMA) said the government should be “ashamed” of the situation. In a separate interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Justine Greening, the education secretary, said that in her previous role as international development secretary she witnessed several humanitarian crises first hand, such as the Ebola outbreak or the earthquake in Nepal, and that she did not think it was right for the British Red Cross to apply the same terminology to what was happening in the NHS.
The charity’s chief executive, Mike Adamson, said extra cash was needed for health and social care to make the system sustainable “The British Red Cross is on the frontline, responding to the humanitarian crisis in our hospital and ambulance services across the country,” he said. Greening also claimed that the fact that the Red Cross had been helping out with transporting patients was “not particularly unusual”. She said organisations such as St John Ambulance were helping the NHS every day.
“We have been called in to support the NHS and help get people home from hospital and free up much-needed beds.” On Saturday, Corbyn said the NHS was “at breaking point” and that May should deliver a statement on the subject to the Commons. “Labour is calling on the government to cancel their tax breaks for the wealthiest and fund our NHS instead,” he said
But Keith Willett, the director of acute care for NHS England, said: “On the international scale of a humanitarian crisis, I do not think the NHS is at that point.” “The people of this country need an explanation for the state of emergency in our hospitals, and an account of what action will be taken to end it. The only person who can do that is the prime minister.”
But when May was asked about the possibility of a Commons statement she refused to commit herself to making one.