NHS facing year-round crisis and cannot cope, warns BMA

NHS facing year-round crisis and cannot cope, warns BMA  The latest NHS performance figures reinforce the difficult truth that frontline health services are buckling under the strain of relentless demand and NHS staff are coming under unremitting pressure, the NHS Confederation has warned. The British Medical Association said the figures provide the “clearest evidence yet that the NHS cannot cope with the year-round crisis it is now facing”, and called on the government to take urgent action to resolve the crises of doctors’ pensions and tax as these add to the problem by forcing doctors to reduce their working hours.
The performance figures, published yesterday, reveal that August had the highest-ever recorded figures for A&E attendance, although slightly lower than those for July, as well as the lowest ever proportion of patients treated within 18 weeks of referral. However, the 31-day cancer standard was met. OnMedica