Bristol faced NHS summer crisis

Bristol faced NHS summer crisis as Liberal Democrats call for emergency measures to protect patients in time for winter

New NHS figures reveal that Bristol and surrounding areas saw 50,103 A&E attendances during June and July, up from 31,247 a decade ago. Bristol Liberal Democrats are warning that the city’s health services have faced a summer crisis, with urgent action needed.

Stephen Williams, Chair of Bristol City Council’s Public Health and Communities Committee, 

said that the annual ‘winter crisis’ in the NHS was in danger of turning into a “permacrisis” with local health services buckling under pressure all year round, putting patients at risk. The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to bring forward an emergency package of measures to protect people ahead of the even busier winter months.

The figures also reveal a sharp rise in long A&E ‘trolley waits’. Between June and July, 781 patients in Bristol experienced delays of 12 hours or more from the point of admission decision to being admitted. A decade ago, such waits were unheard of. Neither the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust nor the North Bristol NHS Trust reported any 12-hour waits during the same period in 2015.

These long delays can have deadly consequences. Analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously stated that 16,600 deaths were linked to long A&E waits before admission in 2024. 

The Liberal Democrats have said that the emergency package of measures should include plans to increase vaccine uptake for seasonal illnesses, expand access to pharmacies and a recruitment and retention drive to increase the number of out-of-hours GPs. Lib Dem MPs say that this would take pressure off stretched A&E waiting rooms and protect patients.

Cllr Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze, said:

“We must avoid local health services in Bristol entering a state of permacrisis. The typical winter pressures that we see are now being felt all year round and patients and their loved ones are paying the price.

“The Conservative party’s shameful neglect of local health services here in Bristol brought us to this point, but this Labour government needs to realise that we could be sleepwalking towards disaster this winter unless Ministers take urgent action.

“We need an emergency package of measures to protect patients and their families from agony this winter. These need to include increasing vaccine uptake for seasonal illnesses, increasing access to pharmacies and by expanding the number of out-of-hours GPs. 

“Without them many more people could go through terrible agony here in Bristol missing out on the care they desperately need.”

Notes to Editors:

• Figures in the article sum the data for the University Hospitals Bristol And Weston NHS Foundation Trust and the North Bristol NHS Trust.
• Research by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine can be found here.