Wes Streeting urges NHS leaders to prioritise patient safety as winter pressures mount

NHS facing unprecedented winter strain, with record hospital admissions and over four times more flu cases at the end of November compared to last year

Health secretary Wes Streeting held a specially-convened meeting on Monday with NHS leaders to address the growing pressures on urgent and emergency care services.

Streeting urged them to prioritise patient safety by focusing on key areas such as improving emergency ambulance response times, addressing handover delays, and tackling the longest waits in A&E, rather than meeting targets.

Data shows the NHS is facing unprecedented strain this winter, with record hospital admissions and over four times more flu cases at the end of November compared to the same period last year.

“We inherited a broken NHS that saw annual winter crisis as the norm,” Streeting said during the meeting at NHSE’s headquarters in London, acknowledging the record pressures this year.

“This winter I want to see patient safety prioritised as we brace ourselves for the coming months. I’m asking trusts to focus on ambulance delays, handovers and the longest A&E waits Read More……