NHS waiting times are too long, Rishi Sunak has admitted in a new year’s speech that saw him urge hospitals not to cancel elective surgeries despite the severe pressure on A&E departments.
During the Covid pandemic, Sunak said, the NHS drastically reduced scheduled surgeries, and he urged hospitals not to do so again, adding that the government was 'open to conversation' with unions as on 'affordable' suggestions.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, says Rishi Sunak’s speech suggests he is 'detached from the reality' of what is happening in the NHS