The NHS minister, Philip Dunne, has been accused of “belittling” the beds crisis by telling MPs that patients who need to be admitted can sit on seats in A&E units while they wait for a bed. Doctors’ associations and Labour seized on Dunne’s remark, which he made in answer to an urgent question in the House of Commons about how the NHS was managing the winter crisis. “If that is what he truly thinks, it shows a worrying lack of appreciation of reality in our emergency departments and acute medical units.”Q&A Why is the NHS winter crisis so bad in 2017-18? Nurses leave packed A&E units to treat patients in ambulances Read more“This is an appalling and ignorant remark from a minister entirely out of touch with the reality of the NHS winter crisis,” said Justin Madders, the shadow health minister. “Placing sick patients in chairs because of acute bed shortages is clearly not acceptable in the 21st century.

Source: The Guardian January 08, 2018 18:30 UTC