Skip to main content
Legal news

Health Secretary seeks resolution to staffing issues in acute admission wards

Jonathan Winston Jonathan Winston
2 min read

The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said that he agrees with the Royal College of Physicians which is calling for greater staffing of consultants in acute admission wards.

He said that the college was right to say that patients deserved better care than was currently provided at night and at weekends. He added: “I have already asked Medical Education England to consider with the profession, the service and medical royal colleges, how best to secure better patient outcomes and the right level of supervision for trainees through greater consultant involvement in direct clinical care at night and at weekends.”

His comments comes as the RCP revealed, in its latest survey, that only 3% of hospitals have cover from a specialist consultant in acute medicine for 9 to 12 hours at weekends and adds to other surveys which suggest that more acutely ill patients die at weekends and that in many cases junior doctors are having to cover several wards.

The college says that patients have the right to expect seven day a week consultant care and that it is concerned at “mounting evidence of poor care delivered to patients in hospital". It says that there have been improvements in care for very ill patients in recent years because of more staffing and the introduction of acute admissions units but that its survey revealed that patients are still not being seen twice a day in ward rounds and that only a quarter of acute admission wards have enough beds.

More Winston Solicitors news

 

Client feedback

They help us and guided us buying the property
Shamim
Very professional and courteous. Good response times and extremely thorough in their work. Highly recommend.
Richard
I recently updated my will with Winston Solicitors. Emily was very helpful and professional. She explained everything I needed to know very clearly and addressed any questions I had . The service was excellent
Ann
Great experience and consistent feedback
Alexander
Good communication, clear emails, good attention to detail reacted quickly to problems.. We have used twice now and would certainly use her again as a convincing solicitor. Much better than other we have used in the past.
Rachel
The service from Sam and Paolo has been exceptional - timely, responsive and efficient through a highly stressful house purchase (no fault of theirs!) and we would highly recommend them both to anyone!
Mr & M
I recenlty contacted Winstons Solicitors to assist with a appeal for my mother with the ICB regarding a continuing health care assessment. James Urquart Burton assited me with the process. He was exteremely helpful and understanding. James provided an indepth analysis and assesssment and was present at the appeal to assist me and advocate for my mother. Jame's work is diligent, professional and he is really responsive to any questions and queries. I highly recommned contacting James to help and assist with any appeals for Continuing Healthcare and Decision Support Tool reviews
Angela
Excelent service
Angus
Contact Jonathan