Now 2,000 top doctors warn the PM on NHS funding: Staff say safety is at risk because of 'unacceptable' lack of money
- Open letter to Theresa May says doctors constantly apologise for care standard
- Published by British Medical Journal, it said things 'cannot continue' as they are
- Doctors, from Brighton hospital, said they hoped 'we would never have to write'
- Urged Mrs May to reach cross party agreement on future healthcare and funding
Patient safety is at risk due to an ‘unacceptable’ lack of NHS funding, according to a letter signed by 2,000 NHS doctors.
The open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May said doctors constantly have to apologise to patients about the poor standard of care.
The document, published last night in the British Medical Journal, said things ‘simply cannot continue’ the way they are.
![Patient safety is at risk due to an ‘unacceptable’ lack of NHS funding, according to a letter signed by 2,000 NHS doctors. Stock image](http://web.archive.org./web/20180327021524/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/31/01/0ECC0F6C00000578-0-image-a-27_1485825268139.jpg)
Patient safety is at risk due to an ‘unacceptable’ lack of NHS funding, according to a letter signed by 2,000 NHS doctors. Stock image
The doctors who organised the letter - consultant anaesthetist Anita Sugavanam and A&E consultant Rob Galloway, of Brighton & Sussex University Hospital - said it is one that they hoped ‘we would never have to write’.
Their letter said: ‘We are constantly failing to meet our own and our patients expectations. We apologise to them and we also empathise with them.
‘We feel handcuffed and paralysed working in this current NHS. We are exasperated and feel demoralised because we are not able to provide and develop the excellent care we were trained to give.
‘We are simply fighting fires on a daily basis. There is a real risk of a brain drain at our level from the UK if this government does not listen to us.’
They urged Mrs May to reach a cross party agreement on the future of healthcare and social care funding.
The Government has come under severe pressure over NHS funding in recent weeks, as the winter health crisis has seen waiting times lengthen and hospitals turning patients away.
The Department of Health repeatedly insists it has given all the NHS more than it needed, at the same time as other public services had received fundings cuts.
But NHS England chief Simon Stevens has said it would be ‘stretching it’ to say the NHS was given more than it had asked for.
![The open letter to Theresa May said doctors constantly have to apologise to patients about the poor standard of care](http://web.archive.org./web/20180327021524/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/31/01/3CAB6B4F00000578-0-image-a-30_1485825279998.jpg)
The open letter to Theresa May said doctors constantly have to apologise to patients about the poor standard of care
The doctors argue: ‘It is impossible to provide effective efficient patient-led innovative healthcare which is free at the point of contact when we spend less on healthcare than other comparable OECD countries.
‘This is not a political statement. Again we reiterate that we represent the most senior tier of healthcare workers and we are writing to you for the first time en masse. Do not ignore this letter and provide a response as soon as possible.’
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of council at the British Medical Association, said: ‘The Government cannot continue to stick its head in the sand.
‘Our hospitals are in the red, patients are suffering and staff are working under impossible conditions.
‘The system is at breaking point and it’s not just our hospitals that are facing these issues - GPs are conducting millions more consultations every year while also facing a recruitment crisis.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to the NHS - that’s why we have invested £10billion in its own plan to transform services and improve standards of care, and recently announced almost £900million of extra funding for adult social care over the next two years to tackle the pressures of our ageing population.
‘Furthermore, the NHS is now carrying out record numbers of treatments with more doctors and nurses providing safer, more personal care than ever before.’
Most watched News videos
- Qantas makes first landing from direct Australia to London flight
- South Carolina school bus collides with a semi-truck
- Flash floods wipe away a road in Catheys Valley, California
- Journalists clash during a Cricket Australia press conference
- Bouncer punches man in face after he's carried out of nightclub
- Police hunt man behind vicious bottle attack outside London bar
- Shocking moment police take down man attacking them with sword
- Justin Bieber seen on the scene of car crash in LA
- Man outwits speed camera van by blocking its view with umbrella
- Shocking moment burst pipe explosion sends pedestrians flying
- Brave lorry driver makes reverse manoeuvre on edge of sheer drop
- Heartwarming moment man recreates Love Actually scene to propose
-
Mistresses of Danish inventor accused of killing...
-
Japanese investment banker, 40, who made air hostess bow...
-
Martin Clunes films at bus stop where Milly Dowler was...
-
Disgruntled driver stands in front of a police camera van...
-
Convicted fraudster calling himself 'King Popper' who...
-
Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick deletes his repeated social...
-
Is there any wonder they thought they could get away with...
-
Boy, 4, is 'raped in a troubled desert town by a...
-
UK passports are to increase in price from TOMORROW (but...
-
'I'm in Love Actually!': Husband-to-be edits himself into...
-
Father, 24, dies after jumping into a retention pond to...
-
NASA scientist who was portrayed by Jodie Foster in the...
-
Teenager, 15, jailed for violently raping an elderly...
-
Massive crash involving two lorries causes 90-minute...
-
Woman who performed oral sex on a train passenger as a...
-
Is Kim Jong-un making a secret visit to China?...
-
Married father-of-four, 45, who ran off to Mexico with a...
-
Father-of-five, 51, and his son, 14, are killed after...