The health chief in charge of improving the NHS in London today revealed his concerns that frontline staff are worn out due to relentless winter pressures.
Steve Russell, London director of NHS Improvement, said people had been left visibly tired due to the challenge of coping with arguably the toughest winter in NHS history, with A&E attendances and delayed operations at record levels.
His comments came as NHS England reported that hospitals in England were on average 95.3 per cent full last week - with Croydon, North Middlesex and Hillingdon not having a spare bed at times. King’s College hospitals and the Royal Free were among the trusts worst hit by a continuing outbreak of the norovirus vomiting bug.
Mr Russell, who oversees 38 hospital, community and mental health trusts in the capital, told the Standard: “The thing that worries me most at the moment is how tired people are. It’s been a bit of a tough winter and people have gone the extra mile - and then some - in hospitals, community settings or primary care.
“I think people are quite tired. We say that every winter, but we do observe people looking like they have worked very, very hard, particularly in recent months. The challenge isn’t getting much easier next year.”
He recorded a video with Dr Anne Rainsberry, head of NHS England’s London region, to thank staff for “exceptional care”. She said: “We know it’s tough. We know we are not out of the woods yet.”
Mr Russell said the BBC2 TV documentary Hospital, which showed how staff at Imperial College Healthcare’s five west London hospitals faced a daily battle to find beds for patients while still achieving extraordinary medical outcomes, was a great example of what the NHS could do.
“We have got to keep people’s heads up,” he said. “There is lots of very good stuff going on across London - the Imperial documentary is a good example of that, of where the NHS gets it right.
“But there are some examples of where we have not managed to get it right. It will be very difficult for the staff involved. No-one goes into work to do a bad job.
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“The thing we have from NHS I’s perspective, and NHS England’s perspective, is how do we help people to create the right conditions for success?”
He said that the controversial shake-ups proposed in sustainability and transformation plans {STPs] offered an opportunity to change the way the NHS operated “but they are not terribly short-term”.
He said: “There is a big opportunity if we manage to get it right but they are not necessarily quick wins. We have got to manage all of that while keeping the system going, and the current system is running quite hot at the moment.” @RossLydall
