Hospitals urged to free up beds ahead of ambulance crew strikes
Hospitals should free up beds by safely discharging patients in advance of “extensive disruption” caused by industrial action by ambulance crews, health chiefs have said.
They warned of “a very challenging period” when ambulance crews in England and Wales are due to walk out for two days on 21 and 28 December in a dispute over pay.
It follows Thursday’s one-day strike by nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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In a joint letter with national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis and chief nursing officer Dame Ruth May to NHS trusts and integrated care boards, Sir David Sloman, NHS England’s chief operating officer, said measures should also be put in place to ensure ambulance patient handovers are kept to no more than 15 minutes.
NHS data shows ambulance handover delays at hospitals in England have hit a new high, with one in six patients last week waiting more than a hour to be passed to A&E teams.
Just over one in three had to wait at least 30 minutes. The numbers are higher than at any point in recent winters.
Strikes every day before Christmas – which sectors are affected and why
NHS Providers’ interim chief executive Saffron Cordery said “Trust and system leaders are being asked by NHS England to focus on reducing handover delays and maximising capacity in urgent and emergency care.
“But given the scale of operational pressures on providers now including very high bed occupancy levels, rising flu admissions, ongoing COVID-19 pressures, record staff absences and increasing A&E attendances, this will be incredibly difficult to implement.
“We understand why ambulance staff have voted for industrial action but it’s vital that the government and unions talk urgently to find a way to prevent this and further strikes from happening.”
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The first nurses’ strike in a century
Meanwhile, Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has said Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s “macho” negotiating style is hampering efforts to resolve the nurses’ pay dispute.
She said that when she met Mr Barclay in the House of Commons on Monday, it had been “very confrontational” with him refusing to discuss pay.
“I see a macho culture in this government,” she said.
“He needs to get to a place where he’s inspired with the value of care and treatment. He doesn’t value that because it’s a 90% female profession.”
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‘We hugely value nurses,’ says Steve Barclay
Following Thursday’s strike, RCN members are due to walk out again on Tuesday.
Ms Cullen urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to step in before the dispute “engulfs” the NHS, warning there would be a further “escalation” of the nurses’ action in January involving longer stoppages and more organisations.
On a visit to Belfast on Friday, Mr Sunak insisted that while “the door is always open to talks” the government was determined to stick to the recommendations of the independent pay review body.
“We want to be fair, reasonable and constructive, that’s why we accepted the recommendations of an independent pay body about what fair pay would be,” he said.
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The NHS pay review body has recommended below-inflation pay rises of around 4% for nurses and the government is refusing to negotiate with unions who want a higher offer because it has accepted this recommendation.
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The nurses’ strikes explained
It has emerged that nearly 16,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries were rescheduled in England – 54,000 less than the government suggested – due to Thursday’s strike.
The figures were published after Health minister Maria Caulfield said around 70,000 appointments would be lost due to the industrial action.
But, according to provisional NHS data reported by trusts where the RCN strike took place, 2,452 inpatient and day case elective procedures and 13,327 outpatient appointments were rescheduled, coming to 15,779 in total.
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Across England, 9,999 staff were absent from work due to the strike, according to figures on the NHS England website.
The highest numbers were seen in the South West where striking staff came to 2,372, with 2,023 in the Midlands and the next highest, 1,714 in the North East and Yorkshire.
It has become almost impossible to book a driving test on the government website due to bots on the booking system, driving instructors have told Sky News.
The only official way to book a practical car driving test is through the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) website.
New test slots are released by the DVSA at 6am every Monday, but “no matter how fast I am, there’s nothing available”, said Aman Sanghera, a driving instructor based in west London.
Driving instructor Aman Sanghera wants ‘stronger oversight and regulation’ from the DVSA
When asked about the cause, she said: “All of the tests are taken by bots, they are definitely taking over the booking system.”
In this context, bots are automated software designed to mimic human behaviour and programmed to carry out actions like searching for and reserving driving test appointments on the official government website much faster than humans can.
Individuals and companies use bots to block-book driving test slots and then resell them at a profit, which is not illegal, although it is a violation of the DVSA’s terms of use.
Recent data shows the DVSA has closed over 800 business accounts for misuse of its booking service in the past two years.
It takes five months on average for a test in England – unless you pay a middleman
Ms Sanghera, who has been in the trade for over a decade, said the usage of bots started a few months ago “but is now getting out of hand”.
She said: “I’ve actually heard about driving instructors being approached by certain individuals to then take on their IDs to log in and to run this scam.
“I struggle to actually book a test for my students, which means that by the time my students are logging in, they’ve got no chance.”
Driving instructors can book driving tests on behalf of their pupils using a dedicated service, allowing them to bypass the general queue and potentially secure test slots more efficiently.
As a result, Ms Sanghera said students are “forced to go to third-party sites” to secure “the same test dates which are then available later on during the day at a premium rate of like £200-£300”.
She added: “Given that the DVSA is a government-regulated body, one would expect a more robust and fair system to ensure affordability and accessibility for all candidates.”
The long waiting lists and high demand for tests has led some to take advantage
The standard test fee is £62, offered by the DVSA, which is responsible for carrying out driving tests in Great Britain.
The biggest concern for the driving instructors Sky News has spoken to, including Ms Sanghera, is “the fact that students are being exploited”.
When Ahmed Ali struggled to find a practical test on the DVSA website, he turned to third-party sites – a decision he now regrets.
Ahmed Ali started looking for a test two years ago
He said: “I’ve spent about £650 on driving tests, and I’ve sat zero tests. I’ve given all this money to third-parties that look for cancellations so they could try to get you a faster test.”
But the 20-year-old said that despite making the payments, he “didn’t hear back from them again”, which is illegal.
“When you lose all that money, you get to a point where you can’t really afford to find another driving test,” he said.
“I just feel very frustrated because I’ve spent all this money, all this time into driving, and I haven’t sat a single driving test.”
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The DVSA urged applicants to only book tests via the official Gov.uk website and told Sky News it “deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly”.
“These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing,” it said.
From Tuesday, the DVSA will require learner drivers to provide 10 full working days’ notice to change or cancel their car driving test without losing the test fee, up from the current three days.
Also part of the DVSA’s crackdown to reduce waiting times is a consultation expected to launch in spring 2025 “to streamline the driving test booking process” and “tighten terms and conditions”.
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
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Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
British Steel declined to comment.
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