Labour

Research by Labour has revealed that the number of people spending the Christmas period stuck in hospital due to Delayed Transfer of Care almost doubled between 2010 and 2016.

The Patient Snapshot, which is the number of people who are stuck in hospital at midnight on the last Thursday of the month, showed that this had increased from 1,995 people on December 30^th 2010 to 3,929 on 29^th December 2016.

The last time the snapshot fell directly on Christmas was 2015 when 3,155 spent Christmas Eve stuck in hospital.

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, said:

“The shocking rise in delayed transfers of care is directly attributable to the cuts imposed by the Tory Government and will mean those needing care will have to spend their Christmas stuck in hospital.

“Tory cuts to local authorities since 2010 will have seen reductions in social care budgets of £6.3 billion by March 2018 and a 26% drop in the numbers of older people receiving publicly funded care – some 400,000 people.

“Families of people with care needs will be concerned by the possibility of their vulnerable relatives being stuck in hospital unnecessarily over Christmas because of the lack of available care in their community.

“The Tory Government offered no additional funding for social care in either the Budget or the Local Government Finance Settlement. It is clear that only Labour can ease this Tory social care crisis: Labour would invest £8 billion across the Parliament with £1 billion pledged this year to offer more publicly-funded care services.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the news that Trusts will be allowed to cancel non-urgent elective operations until mid-January, said:

“Theresa May’s claims that she has suitably prepared our NHS for the winter season are looking increasingly doubtful. Despite the best efforts of our overstretched staff, numerous Trusts are already running at full capacity with no spare beds at all.

“Cancelled operations will pile more misery on patients this winter. It’s time Tory ministers got a grip.”

David Drew MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural affairs, commenting on the Government’s release of badger cull statistics today, said:

“The Government have released these high figures on the first day of Christmas recess. Nearly 20,000 badgers have been culled this year, the highest number ever, as part of an unsafe and unscientific badger cull.

“These figures show that the Government failed to meet its targets and has adjusted target numbers up and down for every single cull zone, raising serious questions about the accuracy of current badger population estimates.

“In the same month as announcing a Bill on animal welfare, this Government have overseen a doubling in the number of badgers killed compared to last year. It’s clear that despite their warm words, the Tories still have a serious problem when it comes to animal welfare.

“Labour calls on the Government to halt the badger cull across England and formally review its policy on how to tackle bovine TB.”

Owen Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, criticising the failure of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to act on the Bombardier Tariff imposed by the US Department of Commerce, said:

“The Government has let these workers down again and again by not taking a hard enough line with Boeing and the US Government.  

“Staff and suppliers of Bombardier in Belfast are rightly concerned about this week’s announcement from the US Department of Commerce.

“The Government haven’t done anything on this issue when they should be doing all they can to see this decision reversed.”

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Government defeat in a landmark court case against “discriminatory” Personal Independence Payment (PIP) legislation, said:

“This landmark ruling is a damning indictment of the Government’s discriminatory approach to PIP support and its refusal to make this support available to people with mental health conditions. So much for the Prime Minister’s commitment to deliver parity of esteem for mental health.

“When the Government should have been listening to successive court rulings on PIP payments and correcting injustices for people with debilitating mental health conditions, they decided to undermine the legal basis for the judgments and introduce emergency legislation. This was a step too far, even for this Tory Government.

“Labour is committed to overturn the emergency regulations and make PIP available to people with mental health conditions, as well as scrapping the PIP assessments to develop a personalised, holistic assessment process which provides each individual with support and a tailored plan.”

Ends