Rise in re-admissions blamed on NHS targets

Government pressure for hospitals to meet waiting lists is leading to some patients being discharged before they are ready, the Conservatives have claimed. Official figures today reveal the number of NHS emergency re-admissions has risen by nearly a third since 2002, from 5.3 per cent to 7.1 per cent earlier this year. Shadow health secretary […]

Minister blunder allows Welsh ambulance probe

The Welsh assembly government is to hold a public inquiry into the country’s ambulance service after the health minister accidentally voted against his own policy. After arguing strongly against Plaid Cymru’s calls for a public investigation into the service’s problems, Labour AM Brian Gibbons pressed the wrong button and ended up voting for the motion. […]

‘Major communications problems’ in July 7th response

The emergency services’ response to the July 7th bombings in London last year was hampered by “major communications problems”, a new report finds. The London assembly’s investigation into the attacks on the capital’s transport system, in which 52 people died, praised the “incredible acts of courage” by ambulance, police and fire service staff, and members […]

Hospital bed cuts ‘a sign of progress’

Cuts to the number of NHS hospital beds should be seen as evidence of a more efficient health service, not one that is struggling to cope, hospital managers insist today. A new report from the NHS Confederation says that although the number of hospital beds has fallen by 31 per cent in the last 20 […]