Fears over patient safety in the strike-hit NHS grew on Monday as official figures showed more than 22,000 Londoners waited over 12 hours to be seen in A&E in one month alone.
Thousands of appointments and operations have also been cancelled due to the walk-outs by doctors, nurses and paramedics. As hospitals started trying to catch up on the delays caused by four days of industrial action by 47,000 junior doctors, the Royal College of Nursing issued a stark warning to ministers and health bosses that they had just two weeks to plan for its upcoming all-out strike.
But Rishi Sunak turned the spotlight onto the union, warning of the threat to patient care from a walk-out “without derogations” and after the Government’s pay offer was rejected by a “minority” of RCN members.
Amid the war of words, there are concerns over the impact on patients of the crisis in the NHS, with official data showing that one in 10 (11.7 per cent) people attending A&Es in the capital in February waited at least 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged.
Waits of more than five hours to be admitted to A&E can significantly increase the risks of a patient dying or becoming seriously unwell, according to research published by the Emergency Medicine Journal.
Nearly a third (31 per cent) of patients at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals faced at least a 12-hour wait, the highest of any NHS trust. This contrasted with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust in central London, where just 1.1 per cent of patients endured a wait of over 12 hours.
Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England, said the new data on A&E waits was “a real concern” which reflects “the incredible demand-driven pressures on trusts”. Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “Overcrowding in emergency departments (EDs) and acute medical units (AMUs) means many patients are still not receiving timely and high-quality patient care.”
Separate figures show that patients in London with a stroke or chest pain waited an average of 39 minutes for an ambulance last month, the fourth-highest total of any region in England.
It is a rise on the month before, when London ambulance crews took an average of 33 minutes to respond to a Category Two call.
The doctors’ strike led to widespread disruption to NHS services across London, with Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich warning patients of a 12-hour wait to be seen.
The RCN announced on Friday that its members will walk out for 48 hours from 8pm on April 30 after rejecting the Government’s offer of a five per cent pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.
One of the union’s leaders said the Government and hospital chiefs had only a short time window before its latest walk-out. RCN England Director Patricia Marquis told LBC Radio: “In exceptional circumstances we will call off in any organisation in the strikes and allow people to return. But at this point our plans are to run strikes where all members are called out on action.”
NHS nurses in emergency departments, intensive care and cancer wards will take industrial action for the first time. “What we are saying to the Government now is ‘you have got two weeks to plan’,” Ms Marquis added.
She admitted that “public support will wane” for the industrial action if it leads to patients dying.
RCN members voted by 54 per cent to 46 per cent to reject the deal, on a 61 per cent turnout of those employed on NHS Agenda for Change contracts in England .
Mr Sunak said: “Voting to strike, with no derogations, given the closeness of the vote, is obviously disappointing.
“Everyone will be concerned about the impact on patient care.”
He stressed that the largest health union Unison had accepted the Government’s pay offer, with the GMB and others still to decide. He emphasised that the Government’s “door is always open to have talks”.
The RCN is threatening possible strikes until Christmas, if such action is backed by members in a new ballot.
