Streeting says he is ashamed of NHS winter problems

The wellness caput has said immoderate patients' acquisition of the NHS this wintertime makes him consciousness "ashamed".

Wes Streeting said helium had seen patients near crying and distressed and stuck successful corridors, arsenic hospitals conflict to cope.

It comes arsenic a fig of NHS trusts state captious incidents owed to exceptionally precocious request successful A&E.

NHS sources told BBC News astir a twelve hospitals successful England had declared large incidents, astatine 1 constituent connected Tuesday.

Streeting told LBC helium had seen A&E patients confused and crying retired successful distress, portion others had been being treated successful corridors, during a caller infirmary visit.

"When I went in, they said, 'You are present connected a reasonably bully time - it's not excessively atrocious today,'" helium said.

"And arsenic I walked astir these conditions, I was looking astir thinking, 'This is simply a bully day?"'

Streeting promised to bash "everything I can" to "make definite that year-on-year, we spot accordant improvement".

It would "take time" - but the authorities would people an urgent and exigency betterment program "shortly".

"In the meantime, I consciousness genuinely distressed and ashamed, actually, of immoderate of the things that patients are experiencing and I cognize that the unit of the NHS and social-care services consciousness the aforesaid - they spell to work, they slog their guts out, and it's precise distressing for them, seeing radical successful this condition, arsenic well," Streeting said.

He said helium had besides seen ambulance crews taking dying patients into infirmary due to the fact that determination was nary end-of-life attraction disposable for them successful the community.

"It breaks my heart," Streeting added.

Critical incidents were besides declared successful the East Midlands, Birmingham, Devon, Cornwall, Northamptonshire and Hampshire.

• The East Midlands Ambulance Service - which covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire - declared the archetypal captious incidental successful its past owed to a operation of "significant diligent demand, unit wrong hospitals and flooding"
• Health bosses person asked radical suffering from flu, Covid, norovirus oregon respiratory syncytial microorganism (RSV) to enactment distant from the Royal Cornwall Hospital's A&E section successful Truro
• An influx of patients astatine Derriford Hospital successful Plymouth has besides prompted a captious incident
• Hampshire Hospitals said, owed to "sustained pressures" astatine its Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals, it has besides declared a captious incident
• University Hospitals Birmingham is different spot to person declared a captious incidental with an "exceptional number" of patients with flu requiring infirmary admission
• NHS services successful Northamptonshire person besides escalated their presumption to critical, owed to what they accidental is ongoing demand, peculiarly astatine Northampton and Kettering wide hospitals

Critical incidents, which tin past for a fewer hours oregon respective days, let services to:

• recall unit from leave
• suspend non-urgent services
• receive enactment from adjacent hospitals

They are not antithetic astatine this clip of twelvemonth – astir 30 hospitals declared them astatine 1 constituent astatine the commencement of 2023.

But NHS bosses person said the archetypal week of 2025 has been precise difficult, arsenic precocious rates of flu, combined with acold upwind and flooding, person caused a surge successful demand.

In Scotland, doctors said hospitals had go gridlocked and were successful the mediate of a "winter crisis" too.

Dr Fiona Hunter, from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "We are moving connected hard enactment and goodwill, and our patients are receiving unacceptable, undignified and unsafe attraction successful corridors and successful the backmost of ambulances."