Row Over Hospitals Declaring 'Major Incidents'

A new political row has erupted over the NHS after Labour claimed the Government was trying to make it harder for hospitals to declare "major incidents".

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham claimed new "enhanced criteria" - issued to NHS trusts in the West Midlands - advised the trusts to consider whether there was "political involvement or excessive media coverage" and whether there was "a risk of reputational damage" before declaring a major incident.

The row follows a spate of major incidents - which are triggered when patient demand reaches a level that could disrupt hospital services and alerts community hospitals and other health centres to make extra beds available.

In an urgent question in the House of Commons, Mr Burnham pointed to the NHS England document and dismissed a claim by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt that it was simply a "local operational issue".

He said: "Doesn't this muddy the waters hugely and distract doctors whose sole focus should be on the emergency situation rather than media and political considerations that should form no part of their judgment?"

Mr Hunt said the guidance was an attempt to give good advice to hospitals on how to respond during a "tough" winter.

He said: "This was an operational decision. It was nothing to do with ministers.

"This was the local NHS doing its best to get good guidelines out in a tough winter.

"It is absolutely right that a local hospital should talk to the rest of the local NHS to check about the impact of any decision they make on major incidents to make sure that patients are treated safely."

The new criteria includes a requirement for hospitals to check whether community services have been "flexed" to support early patient discharge, according to the BBC.

Mr Burnham said correspondence between managers and A&E consultants at one NHS hospital in the West Midlands showed frontline staff believe their "hands are tied" by the 17-point "enhanced criteria".

In a letter after the urgent question, he accused Mr Hunt of failing to answer questions over the criteria and called for him to clarify the claim it had nothing to do with ministers.

Fourteen hospitals including Addenbrooke's in Cambridge, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Walsall Manor in the West Midlands have declared major incidents in the last month due to a surge in demand.