MP calls for emergency aid as Torbay health services face 'all-year-round crisis'

Torbay MP Steve Darling has called for emergency measures to protect Torbay Hospital patients in time for winter.

There have been 14,462 A&E attendance in Torbay and South Devon through June and July NHS figures reveal, up from 13,228 a decade ago, with Mr Darling warning that local health services have faced a summer crisis.

The Liberal Democrat MP said that the annual ‘winter crisis’ in the NHS had now turned into a “permacrisis” with local health services buckling under pressure all year round, putting patients at risk.

He said that the Government needed to bring forward an emergency package of measures to protect people ahead of the even busier winter months.

The figures also found that long waits in Torbay have been soaring. In the data reported so far on the summer months, which covers June and July, there have been 107 waits of 12 hours or longer from when a decision to admit a patient is made to that patient actually being admitted

These ‘trolley waits’ have risen sharply from the 2015 summer period where they were virtually non-existent in Torbay and South Devon with just none recorded

Mr Darling claims these long delays can have deadly consequences. Analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously stated that 16,600 deaths were linked to long A&E waits before admission in 2024

He said that the emergency package of measures should include plans to increase vaccine uptake for seasonal illnesses, expand access to pharmacies and a recruitment and retention drive to increase the number of out-of-hours GPs.

He said that this would take pressure off stretched A&E waiting rooms and protect patients. Mr Darling added: "These figures underline the urgent need to deliver the £350 million investment that was previously pledged to Torbay Hospital. This vital funding promise was broken by the former Conservative government and has been shamefully delayed by the current Labour government.”

Newton Abbot Lib Dem MP Martin Wrigley said: "It is well known that the NHS comes under increased pressure during the winter months, but after years of neglect by the Conservatives and no firm plan in place by the current Government, the annual winter pressure event has become year round.

"Emergency admissions to our A&E departments throughout the summer, coupled with wait times, show things are not improving.  As we approach Autumn and Winter our NHS is facing tough times. 

"The Government must act now and put in a package of measures to mitigate this crisis to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all during the coming months.”

South Devon and Brixham MP Caroline Voaden added: "It is unforgivable that for many healthcare workers the idea of a solely winter crisis is a comfort. Now, thanks to 14 years of neglect, our NHS exists in a permacrisis, with patients and their loved ones paying the price.

“As we near winter, an emergency package of measures is sorely needed, including expanding the number of out-of-hours GPs and improving access to pharmacies, which we know are under severe threat because of their funding model.”