The government is under renewed attack from doctors who say it has failed to deliver the extra intensive care beds it promised.

The Department of Health says it has created 100 new beds this winter but the Intensive Care Society insists it has seen no sign of any of them.

In an open letter to health secretary Alan Milburn, the society said that although extra cash was supplied to the NHS, there was no tangible evidence it was used for an extra 100 beds.

Many patients who needed the beds went without, it said.

The society, which represents doctors and nurses, called for an urgent assessment of the number of specialist beds the NHS needs to ease the pressure on the service.



NHS boss on the defensive

Sir Alan Langlands, chief executive of the NHS, admitted the serious flu outbreak had put extra pressure on critical care services.

But he added: "There has been 100 extra critical care beds provided in the NHS this winter compared with March 1999.

"Safe staffing levels are the key issue which affects the precise numbers of beds available at one time in the NHS. Overall there has been extra capacity this winter.

"As the Secretary of State has said, we do need more critical care beds and the doctors and nurses to staff them."

The Department of Health said that in March there were 2,260 critical care beds in England. In September 1999, the number had risen to 2283.

Patients' anguish

Sir Alan's comments follow a series a high profile cases which have exposed weaknesses in the system.

Patient Mavis Skeet, 74, was to have had surgery for cancer of the oesophagus at Leeds General Infirmary, but the operation was cancelled several times, and the condition is now inoperable.

Another patient at Bedford Hospital, Doris Brown, had surgery for the same illness cancelled seven times and was finally operated on this week.

Her daughter Jo Brown, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme of the agonising wait.

She said: "I was watching her losing weight, she was unable to eat and gradually deteriorated and we were very powerless to do anything about it, so we were just watching mum die.

"We had faith in the NHS but that all fell apart by this all being repeatedly cancelled.

"I didn't realise that getting an ITU bed was a bit like the National Lottery, I thought that you got a bed based on your clinical need and not just the luck of the draw."

Mrs Brown's anaesthetist at Bedford, David Niblett, said that specialist acute beds were in too short supply.

"Government policy should be directed towards firstly getting more resources to the NHS and the acute sector in general. This is a known problem, it is not a new problem."

His views were echoed by Dr Mick Nielsen, consultant in charge at Southampton General Hospital intensive care unit, and a former president of the Intensive Care Society.

He said: "It is staggering for health ministers to say that the service is coping. Their statements reassuring the public that patients needing intensive care are getting it are total nonsense.

"Statements like that display either a staggering lack of understanding or a callous economy with the truth.

"We have got data to show that even during the non-winter months there are patients who need intensive care who are not getting it who are having to be managed on ordinary hospital wards."

Blair's defence

The latest criticisms follow an uncomfortable week for the government, in which it has faced mounting criticism over an under-funded NHS struggling to cope with the flu crisis.

Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to use a television interview on Sunday to reassure voters that the government is tackling the problems.

He is expected to say on BBC One's Breakfast With Frost programme that although the service has problems, Labour is the only party which can fix them.

He and chancellor Gordon Brown are also expected to use this year's spending review to promise billions of extra pounds for the health service.