Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
Jeremy Hunt will say that every patient should have a doctor who is responsible for their care 24/7 when he announces reforms to GP service.
Health Secretary to announce Out of Hours shake-up
A&Es are getting 'closer to the cliff edge' as ITV News has learned the Health Secretary is to unveil major reforms of Out of Hours care.
Hunt admits more A&E staff 'definitely needed'
The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told ITV News that more staff are needed to cope with demand in A&E departments across the country.
Live updates
Labour: Pressure on A&E units 'not going away'
Labour said the pressure accident and emergency departments face "is not going away" and it is the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's "job to find solutions."
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "David Cameron and his Health Secretary keep blaming GPs and the 2004 contract for the pressure in A&E despite a clear statement from the NHS Confederation that there is no link between the two.
"In addition, Jeremy Hunt has received official advice identifying other reasons for the pressure, such as the botched introduction of the 111 service and the severe cuts to social care.
"By picking on a convenient political target, the Health Secretary is failing to face up to the real causes of the chaos. That cannot be allowed to continue as the pressure is not going away and it is his job to find solutions."
Read: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
GP leader: A&E units unsafe due to 'political meddling'
The accident and emergency system has been left unsafe because of "political meddling" and family doctors will not help shore up the service, the British Medical Association GP chairman is expected to warn.
Dr Laurence Buckman will accuse Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of spouting "rubbish" and being more interested in criticising doctors.
The GP leader is expected to say in a speech today: "He (Mr Hunt) does not want to bother with the facts when he can have a bash at those of us who on his own admission are overworked and strained beyond endurance.
"GPs are not prepared to shore up a system that has been rendered unsafe by unwise political meddling."
Dr Buckman's speech comes on the day Mr Hunt prepares to unveil his reforms to the GP service.
Read: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
Advertisement
Royal College of GPs: 'We are solution to NHS problems'
Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, criticised the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ahead of his speech, for "attacking" GPs, saying:
Family doctors are working ever longer hours in surgery as they struggle to cope with ballooning workloads, at a time when the Government is diverting more and more funding and resources away from general practice.
We need to change the narrative from attacking GPs and focus on ensuring that primary care is properly resourced, thus relieving pressure on other parts of the health services, particularly A&E.
GPs work exceptionally hard for our patients. We are the solution to problems in the NHS, not the cause.
Health Secretary set to launch GP shake-up
GPs are set to see a radical revision of their employment contract to incorporate 24-hour responsibility for patients under plans to be announced today by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
In a speech this afternoon he is expected to outline his mission to change the way GPs work, including the new focus being the direct relationship between a GP and their patient.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt set to launch a series of reforms to GP service
A&E doctors warn they 'cannot guarantee safe care'
Top A&E doctors have warned the NHS that they are no longer able to guarantee safe care for their patients.
In a leaked letter from 20 emergency medicine chiefs from the West Midlands seen by The Independent the doctors warn of"toxic overcrowding" and "institutional exhaustion."
All of our EDs [Emergency Departments] have been under immense pressure for the last few months.
There is toxic ED overcrowding, the likes of which we have never seen before.
Nurses and doctors are forced to deliver care in corridors and inappropriate areas within the ED, routinely sacrificing patient privacy and dignity and frequently operating at the absolute margins of clinical safety.
– Leaked letter from top A&E doctorsWhat is entirely unacceptable is the delivery of unsafe care, but that is now the prospect we find ourselves facing on too frequent a basis.
Labour: Govt's 'dangerous complacency' over A&E units
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has accused the government of "dangerous complacency" over the growing problems in Accident and Emergency departments.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had been called to the House of Commons to answer an urgent question over the "crisis" in A&E units.
Advertisement
A&E doctors: Patients at risk due to 'toxic overcrowding'
Senior Accident and Emergency doctors said "toxic overcrowding" and “institutional exhaustion" is putting patients lives at risk, according to a leaked letter seen by the Independent.
The crisis within A&E is now so bad that doctors cannot guarantee safe care for patients, according to the letter from 20 leaders of emergency departments from the West Midlands.
Rising numbers of patients has created a "state of crisis", the doctors said.
They wrote: “What is entirely unacceptable is the delivery of unsafe care, but that is now the prospect we find ourselves facing on too frequent a basis.”
NHS chief: A&E units moving 'closer to the cliff edge'
The pressures on A&E departments are "growing" leaving the service "closer to the cliff edge", the NHS Confederation chief executive has warned.
Mike Farrar said: "Like many hard-working frontline staff in the NHS, we have been ringing the alarm bells about urgent care services struggling to meet the demands of patients.
"The recent headlines do not lie – the pressures are growing and we are getting closer and closer to the cliff edge.
"In the last ten years, emergency admissions through A&E have increased by 51 per cent; that's an extra 1.25 million more patients going in to hospital on an unplanned basis.
"If we continue with this trend, we will see another extra half a million patients cramming into our A&E department in the next three years. This will be simply impossible for our hospital services to cope with, despite the heroic efforts of staff to date."
PM's spokesman: Statistics back A&E performance
David Cameron's official spokesman has defended the performance of A&Es after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt briefed ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "The most recent statistics (show that) over the last three weeks, A&E performance has actually exceeded the 95% standards for people admitted or discharged within four hours.
"There are also 1 million more people visiting A&E than three years ago."
Urgent question from Labour on A&E 'crisis'
The Labour whips' office has tweeted:
Urgent Question from @andyburnhammp at 1230 on government's response to A&E crisis
From @labourwhips on Twitter:Today's top stories
