All teaching for Walsall NHS doctors suspended due to 'extreme pressures' on emergency services
All teaching for doctors at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has been cancelled for the next week due to "extreme pressures" on emergency care services.
Teaching will be reinstated when it is "safely possible to do so" amidst a winter likely to be the worst on record for A&E waiting times, fuelled by flu and Strep A infections.
Ned Hobbs, chief operating officer at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said: “Like many other NHS organisations, we are seeing extreme pressures on our emergency care services at the moment.
“Reducing training is not a decision that we take lightly, however we need all available staff on hand to ensure that we continue to provide safe and effective care to our patients, and to support our colleagues providing emergency care services.”
It comes as several NHS trusts across the country have declared “critical incidents”, meaning they cannot function as usual due to extraordinary pressure.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, has said that over 90 per cent of clinical leads reported last week that they had people waiting in their emergency department for more than 24 hours
