A health minister has dismissed concerns over the impact of the heatwave on NHS services in Greater Manchester, saying there is no "magical way of avoiding such pressures". It comes after the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) confirmed that it had been moved to the highest alert level.
NWAS now stands at Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP) level four. Level four 'indicates a potential for failures' within ambulances services as they try to cope with 'extreme pressure', according to the national NHS framework.
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The escalation comes as patients struggle with heat-related illnesses, the M.E.N. understands.
Raising the matter in the Commons, Worsley MP Barbara Keeley referenced a Manchester Evening News article reporting that NWAS had raised its operational pressure levels to the highest alert. "A&E departments at the Royal Bolton and Stepping Hill hospitals have admitted they're extremely busy with long queues of ambulances", she said.
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"It's 12 years of Conservative mismanagement and neglect that has left these services, of which my constituents rely, so vulnerable. What's the minister have to say to the patients suffering as a result?"
Maria Caulfied, responding on behalf of the Government, said that "one of the factors affecting ambulance delays is the bed occupancy issue". Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd pressed the matter further, saying: "Rochdale is especially vulnerable because its A&E was closed some many years ago now.
"It means that people are dependent on an ambulance service, which is not in crisis because of the heatwave, it's been in crisis now for some considerable time. We don't need blandishments minister, why does it take a crisis for you come out to explain what has not yet happened?"
Ms Caulfield responded: "We're not waiting for crisis, we've put in place £150 million of extra funding for the ambulance service, we're boosting the workforce, there's nearly 2,300 more 999 call handlers at the start of June.
"We've also invested £50 million in NHS 111 capacity. There will be pressures on the ambulance service and our emergency services at times in the NHS. We saw that with Covid, we've got the heatwave this week, which will put pressure on and there will be pressures on it (in) winter.
"If opposition members think that there's some magical way of avoiding pressures, there isn't."
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