Senior health staff think the NHS has "collapsed", MPs have heard. There are concerns over patient safety when demand rises over the winter months.
Current Health Secretary Steve Barclay sought to play down fears raised by senior frontline clinicians - but acknowledged bed occupancy rates have “broadly remained at winter-type levels”, with “high” Covid cases in July among the reasons. He said efforts are being made to deal with delayed discharges from hospitals, with numbers also similar to winter months at around 13,000 patients.
Several MPs raised concerns over waits for ambulances, with Labour’s Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) telling the Commons: “I’ve had some horror stories from constituents this summer about the dangerous delays they’ve faced with life-threatening conditions. One of my constituents, when she raised that with the NHS, was told by the senior consultant at the A&E department that the NHS has collapsed.
