Labour accuses coalition of tightening up NHS major incident criteria
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Version 0 of 1. Labour has accused the UK’s coalition government of tightening up the criteria under which NHS hospitals can declare major incidents, in a bid to prevent the negative publicity that they attract. Earlier this month, as performance in emergency departments fell to an all-time low, as measured by government targets, at least 16 hospitals declared a major incident, which means they are struggling so much with demand that they are being forced to cancel planned operations or asking people to come to A&E only in an extreme emergency, over the course of a few days. The number of hospitals making such a declaration together with figures showing that emergency departments across England managed to treat just 79.8% of patients within the four-hour target, prompted questions as to whether the NHS was in crisis. Andy Burham, Labour’s health spokesman, spoke out on Wednesday after the BBC reported that it had seen new guidelines issued to some hospitals over when they could declare major incidents and that West Midlands NHS region had issued 17 criteria that must be met before its hospitals could do so. “To have this introduced in the second or third week of January - in the middle of the worst January people can remember for a very long time - does raise some very serious questions,” Burnham told BBC News. “On the front line, people perceive this as more about news management than patient safety. We need to know who wrote this guidance, who approved this guidance, was it approved by NHS England at national level, or indeed by the Department of Health, or by ministers? “Some of the points in the criteria make it effectively impossible for them to declare a major incident. One of the questions I have is, ‘Is that consistent with good patient safety?’ “To have enhanced criteria – ie new hurdles being created – just strikes me as strange in the middle of winter. That’s why it does leave the government with some fairly serious questions to answer today.” NHS England said the DH had nothing to do with the new guidance while the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, accused Labour of “weaponising” the NHS, a charge the Conservatives have previously aimed at Ed Miliband. Among the checklist of issues that hospitals in the West Midlands are now being asked to consider, according to the BBC, are whether community services have been “flexed” to support early patient discharge, elective operations have been cancelled so staff can be redeployed for emergency care and all alternative bed spaces have been utilised and are staffed. The BBC reported that it had seen an exchange of emails in which a head of operations at one NHS trust in the West Midlands says he believes the guidelines have been introduced “to effectively stop trusts from calling a major incident”. Responding on Twitter to Burnham’s comments, Hunt said: “Another day another example of Labour trying to weaponise the NHS, this time on major incidents guidance … Local operational decision in West Mids which had nothing to do with Ministers being cynically exploited by @andyburnhammp for politics.” Earlier this month, David Cameron accused Miliband of telling the BBC he would seek to “weaponise” the health service for political purposes during the general election campaign. Dr Barbara Hakin, national director of commissioning operations for NHS England, said: “Local hospitals continue to have responsibility for deciding whether to declare major incidents, but before doing so best practice dictates that they take account of the wider impacts on other parts of the NHS so that patient safety in the round is protected. That’s why NHS England’s local area team in the West Midlands decided to issue these guidelines. This was not a decision of the Department of Health.” Burnham has been granted an urgent question on the issue, which will take place after prime minister’s questions. |