THE British Medical Association (BMA) and Unison yesterday dismissed as ‘papering over the cracks’, Cameron’s announcement of a £500m ‘bail-out’ over two years for the most hard-pressed A&Es.
This came after a number of A&Es were unable to meet maximum 4-hour waiting targets.
A BMA spokesman told News Line: ‘It is right that the government is finally listening to the concerns of doctors and patients, but at a time when they are demanding cuts of £20 billion across the NHS this is nothing more than papering over the cracks.
‘It is recognition that their austerity programme has hospitals facing ever-increasing demands with diminishing resources.’
The Department of Health said the £500m would be sourced from its own £20bn ‘efficiency savings’ cuts programme. It will be focused only on the minority of A&E units which have the worst problems.
BMA chair Dr Mark Porter said: ‘The government is giving with one hand and taking with the other.’
The College of Emergency Medicine warned that ‘the key crisis for Emergency Departments (EDs) is a lack of senior medical staff.’
It added: ‘We need a long-term strategy to allow sufficient staff members to undertake the range of consultant activities in the ED.
‘All departments throughout the UK face the same enormous challenges and are under the same pressures.’
It stressed: ‘A strategic use of additional financial resources is required to resolve the problems of emergency care.’
Dr Cliff Mann, President of the College, said: ‘Much attention has been focused on the problems experienced in A&E departments.
‘A range of initiatives are being worked upon by NHS England and a long-lasting solution is required.
‘In the meantime, this short-term funding announcement for England is welcome as the pressures in the system remain acute.
‘However, the problem is one which spans the whole of the UK. Key to resolving this is getting the workforce right and this needs a fundamental review and proper funding which we hope will be an outcome of the review being led by Sir Bruce Keogh.
‘Whilst a workable solution to this point is awaited, our Members and Fellows are doing their utmost on a daily basis to provide the best possible patient care.’
The £500m ‘bail-out’ of A&E departments struggling to cope with the massive increase of patients, is ‘a totally inadequate sticking plaster solution’ said Christina McAnea, Unison Head of Health.
The union is calling for a fundamental review into urgent care caused by the scrapping of NHS Direct, a lack of out-of-hours GP cover, staffing cuts and closures, high bed occupancy rates, cuts to social care, and the lack of appropriate healthcare in the community.
McAnea went on to say: ‘It was confirmed last year that the Treasury clawed back at least £1bn of the “savings” the NHS had been forced to make, so this £500m is just a part of the funding that rightly belongs back in the health service.
‘A&E acts as a litmus test for the health of the whole NHS and it is clear that the government is failing that test.
‘Staff working in A&E are under enormous pressure and the same is true of paramedics queuing up outside and forced off the road, while they wait to hand over their patients.
‘The government needs to get a grip on emergency care and we need long-term joined-up planning, not short-term, totally inadequate, sticking plaster solutions.’
