Three Cambridgeshire Lib Dem MPs claim the Government is “asleep at the wheel” after focusing on NHS figures which show that there were 6,520 waits of 12 hours or longer in Cambridgeshire A&Es last month.
MPs Charlotte Cane, Pippa Heylings and Ian Sollom issued a statement highlighting figures that show an average* of 12.2 per cent of waits for people who attended Cambridgeshire’s A&Es in December were 12 hours or longer from the time they arrived.
“It comes as local health services in Cambridgeshire – hospitals, GPs, pharmacies and care homes – are under huge and growing pressure and struggling to cope with demand,” say the MPs.
“In response, the East of England ambulance service had to declare its highest level of alert.
“Elderly and seriously ill patients are being left to wait in corridors on trolleys or asleep in plastic chairs while their conditions deteriorate.”
Local Liberal Democrat MPs Charlotte Cane, Pippa Heylings and Ian Sollom claim the government has “failed to grip the crisis in Cambridgeshire’s health service, putting patients at risk”.
MPs Charlotte Cane (right), Pippa Heylings (left) and Ian Sollom say figures show an average* of 12.2 per cent of waits for people who attended Cambridgeshire’s A&Es in December were 12 hours or longer from the time they arrivedThey called on the Health Secretary Wes Streeting to work immediately on the plans to rescue Cambridgeshire’s A&E from this crisis and protect patients who are suffering as a result of these long and dangerous delays.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has previously said that long waits in A&E are estimated to have contributed to 14,000 deaths in England in 2023.
The MPs joint statement says: “While we recognise that some A&E departments are bucking the trend, it is a scandal that these dangerous delays have become normalised in hospitals across Cambridgeshire.
“Despite the dedication and professionalism of our wonderful doctors, nurses, management and support staff, A&Es in our area are at breaking point after years of the previous Conservative government’s shameful neglect, and patients are paying the price.
“The new government looks to be asleep at the wheel and has completely failed to get a grip on the winter crisis. We now need to see ministers step up and finally begin to tackle this ongoing disaster.”
Their statement concludes: “That means fixing the crisis in social care and getting to work immediately on plans for A&E in Cambridgeshire to protect patients from the consequences of these long delays.
“This response must include the releasing of hospital beds available in Cambridgeshire by providing urgent support to care and nursing homes in the community as well as a pandemic-style emergency recruitment campaign to bring staff out of retirement and back into our local health services workforce.”
*The NHS figures can be found here.
The research by the RCEM can be found here.
