INFANTS WAIT MORE THAN SIX HOURS TO BE SEEN IN ‘BROKEN’ A&E DEPARTMENTS
More than 100,000 infants were left waiting longer than six hours to be seen in A&E in England last year, a landmark report has found.
The findings, relating to children from newborns to two years of age, were uncovered by an independent investigation into the NHS which this week will lay bare critical failing across the health service which are putting the most vulnerable at risk.
“Childhood is precious because it is brief; too many children are spending too much of it waiting for care,” the report is expected to conclude. “It is apparent that the NHS must do better.”
A week after Labour won the election, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, commissioned Lord Darzi, a leading surgeon who was a health minister under Gordon Brown, to carry out a “warts and all” investigation of the NHS.
The report, due to be published this week, will detail a catalogue of failings and highlight a sharp deterioration in the quality of service in the last decade.
It will warn that 100,000 infants a year are facing waits of at least six hours in A&E departments – up 60 per cent since 2009.
‘Challenges we’ve inherited are stark’
Sir Keir Starmer said the “broken” NHS was impacting Britons of all ages.
“The impacts of a broken NHS are being felt across the whole of our society – our children included,” the Prime Minister said.
“The challenges we’ve inherited are stark, but I’m determined to fix the foundations so that we not only rebuild our health service but crucially also reform and renew it for the benefit of future generations.
“That also means equipping the NHS to prevent ill health, not just to treat it – so that all of us can live longer, healthier lives, from childhood to old age.”
Lord Darzi’s review is understood to have found that approximately 800,000 children and young people are on NHS waiting lists for hospital treatment, with 175,000 waiting between six and 12 months and 35,000 waiting for more than a year.
The pioneering cancer surgeon, 64, has uncovered that nearly 500,000 children and young people are on waiting lists for mental health support – with 160,000 of them waiting for over 12 months.
The peer also found that 80 per cent of the 50,000 people waiting for more than a year for community services were children, mainly those with conditions such as autism or ADHD.
Falling vaccination rates
Elsewhere, there has been an 82 per cent rise in hospital admissions for children and young people with eating disorders since 2019-20 and a 10 per cent annual growth rate in the number of prescriptions for ADHD medications given to children and young people between 2004 and 2023.
The prevalence of life-threatening and life-limiting conditions among children has also soared by 40 per cent over the past two decades.
Falling vaccination rates for many of the key childhood vaccinations – some of which have been declining for a decade – are making outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases more common.
Within hours of Labour winning the election, Mr Streeting declared the NHS “broken” and pledged to “turn our health service around”.
The investigation published this week will provide a forensic analysis of the failings of the NHS, and come ahead of a 10-year plan “to radically reform the NHS” which is expected within months.
Lord Darzi is a pioneering surgeon who won the nickname “Robo Doc” for spearheading the use of keyhole surgery and robotics in operating theatres.
Under the last Labour government, he recommended the rollout of polyclinics – major sites bringing together GPs with a wider range of services from 8am until 8pm.
The peer has also said that hospitals should provide far more care seven days a week, saying: “British Airways does not leave its planes on the tarmac over the weekend.”
Currently, half of NHS hospitals close their operating theatres at weekends, with the number of elective operations, such as hip replacements, falling by 80 per cent on Saturdays and Sundays.
2024-09-07T21:33:16Z dg43tfdfdgfd