Wes Streeting urges NHS leaders to prioritise patient safety as winter pressures mount

NHS facing unprecedented winter strain, with record hospital admissions and over four times more flu cases at the end of November compared to last year

Health secretary Wes Streeting held a specially-convened meeting on Monday with NHS leaders to address the growing pressures on urgent and emergency care services.

Streeting urged them to prioritise patient safety by focusing on key areas such as improving emergency ambulance response times, addressing handover delays, and tackling the longest waits in A&E, rather than meeting targets.

Data shows the NHS is facing unprecedented strain this winter, with record hospital admissions and over four times more flu cases at the end of November compared to the same period last year.

“We inherited a broken NHS that saw annual winter crisis as the norm,” Streeting said during the meeting at NHSE’s headquarters in London, acknowledging the record pressures this year.

“This winter I want to see patient safety prioritised as we brace ourselves for the coming months. I’m asking trusts to focus on ambulance delays, handovers and the longest A&E waits.

“We’ve already taken immediate action to keep patients safe by ending strikes – meaning this is the first winter in three years without staff on the picket line,” he added.

Streeting also encouraged eligible people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and ease the strain on NHS services.

The Department of Health and Social Care reported that over 27 million people have received their flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccinations this season.

Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced the government’s Plan for Change, which aims to reduce waiting lists to reduce pressures on the wider health system.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard warned that the health service is already seeing unprecedented demand, with flu cases quadrupling, thousands more ambulance callouts and rising pressures causing unacceptable waits for patients.

She highlighted that while staff have worked hard to prepare, including the expansion of virtual wards to provide hospital-level care at home, and the delivery of over 27 million vaccinations since September, services are set to “come under even more strain.”

She emphasised that collaboration between the NHS and social care partners is crucial to manage demand and prioritise patients with the most urgent needs.

Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), expressed concern over the sharp rise in flu admissions and cautioned that without higher vaccine uptake, this trend is likely to continue, resulting in more hospitalisations and deaths than last year over Christmas.

“We shouldn’t forget flu can still be very serious for some and the vaccine is our best defence,” she said, urging people to book their vaccinations online before the NHS booking system closes on 19 December.