Call for ‘starved’ NHS reforms

A doctor whose mother ended up spending 24 hours in A&E before a hospital bed could be found, is calling for a massive overhaul of the NHS.

Dr Abdul Mannan, a GP partner in Hazelvalley Family Practice in Haslingden, Lancashire, praised the staff that cared for his mother at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital but criticised the government’s underfunding of the NHS. Describing the system as “starved”, Mannan pointed to the reduction in the number of healthcare personnel, facilities, systems, hospital beds and a lack of investment in social provision for patients needing care in the community.

While he was abroad, Mannan’s mother Altabun Nessa, 69, had suffered chest pains, but she didn’t complain because she didn’t want him to cut short his holiday.

He said: “When I got back and discovered her ailment, on 12 September, I immediately contacted mum’s GP practice, Ilex View Medical Practice in Rawtenstall.

“They saw mum, and did an ECG [electrocardiogram] and bloods within two hours despite the fact that staff at the practice were working flat out and I know the duty doctor, Dr Zeenat Sykes, had worked over 12 hours that day.”

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