Head of NHS set to face grilling from MPs after No10 blames Simon Stevens for crisis
Relations with Downing Street have soured as they annoyed about his 'political” interventions
THE HEAD of the NHS is set to face a grilling from MPs over what the head of the Royal College of Physicians described as the worst winter crisis in its history.
It comes as relations between the Simon Stevens and Downing Street have soured after they privately blasted him for not being enthusiastic and responsive enough.
No10 is said to have been annoyed about his “political” interventions, which include the suggestions minsters fund social care by scrapping free bus passes and other perks for pensioners.
Mr Stevens will appear in front of the Public Accounts Committee this afternoon after the current problems in the NHS have been described as a “humanitarian crisis”.
But he has been defended by a range of MPs this morning, with Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, saying it was “unfair” to pin the blame on him.
He told Sky News: “The buck stops with Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt. On Monday Jeremy Hunt appeared to be blaming the public for turning up at A&E.
“Today they appear to be blaming this poor guy Simon Stevens. No doubt tomorrow they will be blaming the weather.
“They’ve got to take responsibility.”
RELATED STORIES:
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said: “It is blame the expert time again from the Conservatives. Simon Stevens has heroically kept the NHS afloat, despite its scandalous lack of funding.
“The government is getting slaughtered by MPs of all parties for the NHS crisis it is presiding over, so to distract attention it blames the expert.
And Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, the Health Select Committee chair, tweeted: “Simon Stevens is simply exercising his duty of candour. As set out in legislation.”
It comes as Professor Jane Dacre, the head of the Royal College of Physicians, said underfunding, lack of staff and problems with social care are making the situation worse than usual.
Asked how things compared with previous years, she told BBC Radio 4r's Today programme: "My fellows and members say that it is worse.
“They are reporting to me that it is the worst that they have ever seen and that they are feeling disempowered and demotivated by finding it very difficult to know what to do about it.
"Things have come to a head over the last week because there are reports from our fellows and members - and we have 30,000 fellows and members across the country - that the pressures are beginning to be unbearable.”
And in a letter to the Prime Minister, the RCP has warned that lives are being put at risk by the crisis in the NHS and social care.
This evening MPs will discuss the difficulties facing the NHS and social care in a House of Commons debate called by Labour, who blamed the "crisis" on "a toxic mix of Tory cuts and neglect".
The opposition party’s motion calls for support for more funding and protection for A&E waiting time guarantees.
Meanwhile, more than 20 MPs, along with former health secretaries Stephen Dorrell and Alan Milburn, have signed up to a cross-party group campaigning for the establishment of an NHS and Care Convention to find a long-term solution for funding.
The group includes Conservative former health minister Dan Poulter, Liberal Democrat ex-care minister Norman Lamb and Labour's former care spokeswoman Liz Kendall, as well as the chairmen of four House of Commons select committees.
In a statement they said there was "widespread recognition that the NHS and the social care system are under unsustainable strain and that the pressures on the system keep getting worse".