MP calls for urgent health reform as NHS declares critical incident in Cornwall
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An MP has called for urgent reform of the NHS and social care after NHS bosses in Cornwall declared a critical incident. Andrew George, who represents St Ives for the Liberal Democrats, said resilience must be improved at Cornwall’s hospitals to prevent the crisis every winter in the NHS.
On Friday NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly integrated care board declared a critical incident because of rising demand on services. The Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro is experiencing long ambulance queues outside and high patient numbers in its emergency department, with many people medically fit for discharge but awaiting the right care, the NHS said.
“Last night NHS managers declared a critical incident across Cornwall’s health system as Cornwall’s only emergency department at Treliske again faced intolerable pressure,” Mr George said. “Resilience must be built into our NHS before the Health Secretary attempts his desired reorganisation.
“The problem is our hospitals have been set to operate on a just-in-time and excessive high bed-occupancy level, even during periods of relative low pressure. “It’s madness that over the last decade hospitals conventionally operate with above 95% bed occupancy, even when pressure is lowest.
“As the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, has correctly, in my view, said, every acute hospital needs an additional ward of beds to take the pressure off the emergency department, to address the problem of patient flow into our hospitals.
