PM and health secretary host roundtable over looming NHS winter pressures
Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay met with health experts today as they seek to “mitigate winter pressures” hitting the NHS this year.
The prime minister and health secretary held a roundtable with clinical leaders in Downing Street, aiming to “improve performance and drive forward planning” to ease the impact on the health service in the coming months – as well as discussing longer-term problems such as cutting waiting lists.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Sunak said the government was “making good progress” on recovery plans, but said ministers “cannot be complement” in the months ahead.
He thanked those in attendance for improvements “particularly in A&E and ambulance performance”, adding: “I think you can see this government is four-square behind the NHS and social care, also with the long-term workforce plan.
“We are doing the right thing for the future, but we need to make sure that record investment is going to make a difference to the patients.”
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But while the event saw the NHS England’s chief executive Amanda Pritchard and chairs of medical royal colleges come through the famous black door, frontline staff – including doctors and nurses – had not been invited.
A source from the Royal College of Nursing, which was left off the guestlist, told Sky News: “It is not a good look for Rishi Sunak to be ignoring nurses again.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News: “I think it is appalling that the prime minister is having a photo op in Number 10 today rather than getting the doctors to knock some heads together and thrash out a deal, because as the ONS [Office for National Statistics] reports, it’s not just that we’re seeing significant numbers of delayed and cancelled appointments in operations – which is awful for patients – this is harming the economy.”
Labour today claimed around 36,000 cancer appointments had been cancelled due to industrial action in the sector since December last year.
And it criticised both Mr Sunak and Mr Barclay for refusing to meet with unions over their grievances with pay and conditions.
Mr Streeting added: “There were no national strikes in the NHS during 13 years of the last Labour government. If Rishi Sunak has given up on governing, he should call an election so Labour can restore the NHS to good health.”