On the day we report London’s A&E departments facing a crisis some experts are calling the “worst” they have seen, the Government risks giving the impression it is in danger of losing control of the situation. Health minister Steve Barclay appears to be in denial, while Rishi Sunak’s spokesman has refused to accept that the health service is in crisis.
The reality being experienced by Londoners and people across the country who face the indignity — and worse — of waiting for urgent care in the backs of ambulances, or on trolleys, or even on floors tells a different story. We report today that London ambulance crews have lost the equivalent of three and a half months by having to wait to transfer patients into hospital in the week to December 25. That is a rise of 12 per cent compared to just the week before. In November alone, over 7,000 Londoners had to wait over 12 hours even to be admitted to A&E. It is unlikely the figures have improved since as the NHS faces the twin evils of rising Covid cases and a bad flu season. At what point, then, would the Government accept there is a crisis?
Under the strain, doctors, nurses and paramedics are understandably cracking. Many are leaving, piling a staffing crisis upon a care crisis. And yet today Downing Street is trumpeting Sunak’s plan for every child to study maths to the age of 18. That may well be a worthy idea but it is an issue that can wait — unlike patients suffering in pain in hospital corridors, desperately hoping for a bed.
The problems besetting the NHS have many roots, not least the ongoing impact of Covid, but the solution begins with the Government. In the short term that could mean increased taxes, paying more to tackle the backlog, fund salaries that retain key staff and begin to fix social care. In the longer term, it is clear a serious and deep reform of our health system and a greater focus on preventive care is needed. The NHS is not coping. We all know it. It is long since time for the Government to admit this too.
The other crisis
Parallel to the health nightmare dominating the news, another crisis endures. Food inflation hit a new record, of 13.3 per cent in a month, over December. Standard readers will not need to be told as they see such spiralling prices every day, but it still makes for sober reading. It also raises the worrying prospect that inflation, which was thought to have peaked, may take longer to come down than expected. No doubt figures like this keep Chancellor Jeremy Hunt awake at night. The Government faces grave problems on many fronts, but until inflation is tamed many of those issues will be more difficult to crack.
Build, build, build
Where there is gloom, let there be light. Or not, in this case. The news of 10 new skyscrapers for the City is welcome indeed for London. It is a vote of confidence in the capital, albeit not an uncontroversial one. It is a sign that London can come surging back. It has powered the country for decades. Nobody would argue that ill winds are battering Britain right now, this is a tonic for that. More growth in the City is good for London and, by extension, for the country. Let the building commence.
