The BBC have come up with a clever ploy, a new line to change the way we look at the overstretched and under pressure services in A&E.
Previously the overstretch was due to too many patients… immigration and GPs not providing the proper service being to blame for too many people coming to A&E, many unnecessarily.
That of course placed the blame at Labour’s door on both counts…immigration and their reforms of the GP contracts.
The BBC has changed the rules of the game and decided that the root cause of the problem is not too many patients but too few staff…and therefore the blame can be shifted elsewhere.
Much as the Left have decided that the problem in the housing market is not too many immigrants flooding into the country and occupying the housing stock at the expense of the natives…no, the problem is too few houses….answer…build more houses…not sure who pays for them though…or indeed where they will be built…the 250,000 a year that we need.
Of course the new BBC line, ‘too few staff”, tries to place the blame at the Government’s door…and we hear the Unions and Labour politicians telling us that NHS budgets are being cut or that resources are swapped away from where they are really needed.
But wait….half way through the article we get this:
More than three-quarters (79%) cited increased attendances at A&E as the reason for increased pressure, while 74% blamed inappropriate attendances at A&E where patients could have been treated by primary care services or by calling NHS 111.
In other words nothing has changed…the cause of overstretch is still the same…too many patients, and too many attending when they shouldn’t, GPs shirking their responsibilities, not too few staff….not the cutting of staff or resources…there has always been a staff shortage at A&E…it has never been a popular place to work….so why the big headline…is it ‘news’ or just Labour scare mongering?
The BBC once again taking their narrative from the Labour press release?
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham “Labour has been warning all year about the intense pressure on Accident and Emergency departments…..What I’m saying to the government is they must urgently get a grip on the underlying causes of this pressure and particularly ensure that all hospitals in England have enough staff to provide safe care.”
Remember Stafford Hospital?…a major cause being staff shortages…Under Labour…
On Monday, the Inquiry heard evidence from a member of staff who worked on the Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU)
Witness B told the Inquiry that in 2004, when the unit was opened, it had nearly 50 beds and staffing levels were adequate. The Inquiry was told that this changed in 2007 when the number of nurses was cut. As a result, witness B became responsible for 15 patients with high care needs as opposed to a previous maximum of nine.
The witness told the Inquiry that the unit became known as “Beirut” throughout the hospital. She said that the low staffing levels made the unit dangerous from a safety perspective.
or this:
- May 2006 – Peer review of critical children’s services and A&E department raises serious safety concerns
The peer review report highlighted the same concerns as an earlier review in 2002.
It described A&E as being “vulnerable” and warned there was “insufficient senior medical cover in A&E”, with two consultants and an associate specialist working a one-in-three rota.
The report also found “insufficient nursing staff”, with no nurse available to triage patients.
“It is self-evident there are not enough nurses and those few that are available are run ragged.”
Of course the BBC when reporting the Mid Staffs scandal tried to avoid mentioning ‘Labour’ at all in relation to this in any articles…..referring instead to the ‘minister for health’ or ‘the government’.