The abandoning of the four-hour treatment target for Accident and Emergency admissions reveals ” just how ill-informed and completely out of touch” Southport MP Damien Moore is, says Labour’s Liz Savage.
The Tory MP recently proclaimed his confidence in how well Southport Hospital and the NHS were doing and boasted that:
” Southport Hospital and the wider health system has prepared earlier and more extensively than ever before for Winter this year … I am confident our services and frontline staff performed professionally to ensure those who required medical treatment were seen to efficiently… Southport Hosptal is heading in the right direction.”
He also criticised Southport Labour for the concerns it had raised over reports of patients waiting for hours in ambulances before being admitted and 100% bed occupancy rates in the hospital, accusing them of “scaremongering”.
Since then it’s been revealed that Southport Hospital A&E was running at roughly 15% below the four-hour treatment target and an A&E consultant at the hospital was one of the 68 who wrote to Theresa May warning of systematic failure, chronic underfunding and “patients dying in corridors”.
Now NHS chiefs have announced that the four-hour target is to be abandoned across the service until April 2019 as it struggles to cope with Conservative cuts and say it is the first time ever that the NHS has failed to meet its key constitutional standards.
Labour’s prospective candidate for Southport, Liz Savage, says it fully exposes the Conservatives “woeful” handling of the the NHS and the local MP’s previous claims:
“Damien Moore tried to bluff his way out of the concerns we raised and claimed it was “scaremongering” but this latest news shows just how ill-informed and completely out of touch with the situation he is.”
“Our local hospital is struggling, our NHS is struggling and local patients and staff are suffering as a result. He is wilfully refusing to accept reality but he has been thoroughly exposed for his spin and the abandoning of the A&E waiting targets fully exposes the extent of Tory failure and mismanagement of the NHS.
Damien Moore MP might think he is able to safely hide behind his ‘ all is well, nothing to see here ‘ mantra but this decision strips away any pretence. It holds the Tories up to the light and it is a disturbing sight.”
OTS News on Social Media