Health secretary apologises to people whose operations have been cancelled but says approach is planned and methodical

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has defended plans to postpone non-urgent surgery until the end of the month, amid growing criticism of the government’s response to the NHS winter crisis.

Hunt said the decision was made to allow “a planned, methodical, thoughtful” approach. He also apologised to patients who had faced upheaval, saying: “It’s absolutely not what I want.”

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “What is different this year compared to last year is that last year we had a lot of operations cancelled at the last minute. A lot of people were called up the day before their operation and told: ‘I’m sorry, it can’t go ahead.’

“And we recognise that it is better, if you are unfortunately going to have to cancel or postpone some operations, to do it in a planned way … Although if you are someone whose operation has been delayed I don’t belittle that for one moment and indeed I apologise to everyone who that has happened to.”

He thanked NHS staff for their “heroic” job, saying they were working “beyond the call of duty”.

Hunt’s remarks come after growing criticism from charities and opposition MPs of the government’s response to the worsening situation in hospitals this winter.



Dr Anthea Mowat, the chair of the British Medical Association representative body, said: “What is happening in our A&Es is symptomatic of pressures across the entire system … Short-term fixes, however well-meaning, will only get us so far. Each winter the pressure on the NHS worsens, and politicians are not taking the long-term view needed to ensure the NHS can keep up with rising demand.”

The Patients Association attacked ministers for the pressure the health service was under. John Kell, the charity’s head of policy, said politicians’ decisions had left the NHS in its current situation.

Theresa May needs to 'get a better grip' on NHS crisis, says senior Tory - Politics live Read more

Kell said: “Ministers must be accountable for this winter’s crisis. The policy decisions that have left the NHS in this position are taken by the government, and it is ministers who are directly accountable to parliament, and to patients when they vote at elections.”



His criticism came as Theresa May praised NHS workers for doing a “fantastic job” under pressure and insisted that the service had been better prepared for winter than ever before.

On Tuesday, pressure on English hospitals prompted the government to tell them to take unprecedented measures to try to stabilise the service. This included extending an existing ban on non-urgent surgery until the end of the month and deploying consultants in A&E units to assess whether patients really were emergency cases.



Kell added: “Objectively, the NHS’s performance and offer to patients are stronger now than they were 15 years ago or more, but the experiences of patients at times like this do not reflect that. Ministers must not allow the NHS to slide backwards in its 70th anniversary year to the point where its improved performance in the later 2000s seems like an isolated peak.” He said patients were losing out, with a growing number treated on trolleys in corridors.



Sarah Wollaston, the former GP and Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons health committee, said May and her cabinet colleagues needed to “get a better grip” of the problem.

The prime minister, on a visit to homeowners who had benefited from stamp duty reforms in Berkshire, paid tribute to NHS staff and pledged operations would be rescheduled “as soon as possible”.

She said: “Can I say a huge thank you to NHS staff for their hard work. They work hard and do a fantastic job for us, day in and day out, all year round, but obviously there are extra pressures in winter.

“They’re doing a fantastic job and their dedication is ensuring that people are getting treatment that they need.”

She added: “The NHS has been better prepared for this winter than ever before. We have put extra funding in.

“There are more beds available across the system. We have reduced the number of delayed discharges of elderly people who would otherwise have been in NHS beds rather than in social care. But I recognise for those people that have had their operations postponed this is disappointing, it’s frustrating.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, the shadow health secretary, said: “Yet again Theresa May reveals how entirely out of touch she is. She will next be trying to lecture patients that ‘nothing has changed’ … Instead of burying her head in the sand … [May] needs to explain why she has allowed underfunding and cuts to health and social care to continue. As Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said this morning, the government needs to get a grip.”