Patient care on trolleys now normalised, NHS chief says

Poor care and long A&E department trolley waits have become "normalised", the new NHS England chief has warned.

- REBECCA THOMAS

Sir Jim Mackey said unacceptable care standards were being used so often that staff had become desensitised to them as lack of funds had made it more difficult to provide essential services.

His warning comes after a survey of NHS trust chief executives revealed that hospital leaders were considering cutting jobs and scaling back maternity and emergency care in some areas to meet the government’s financial demands.

Around 6.2 million patients are waiting for NHS treatment, a figure that has been growing steadily since 2013 when it stood at just under 3 million.

Meanwhile, the NHS is facing a £7bn national spending deficit for the coming financial year, which health leaders need to help cut. That is up from around £2.5bn in 2015-16.