Fuel: how the NHS could suffer

The crisis threatens NHS waiting lists and supplies

The NHS, because of its size and the nature of its work, is particularly vulnerable to the effects of a fuel crisis.

According to the Department of Health, hospital services across Britain are already coming under "massive pressure".

Officials have warned that if the fuel shortages continue lives could be put in peril.

The threat comes principally from shortages of fuel for ambulances and the cars of on-call doctors, not to mention traffic problems caused by go-slows within towns and cities.

Ambulance services stress that emergency call-outs have not yet been affected, although the precautionary use of an RAF helicopter near Aberdeen on Tuesday suggests that this cannot be guaranteed for many more days.

One of the biggest problems facing NHS hospitals is ensuring that staff are able to turn up to work.

Staff shortages

Staff shortages cause problems at the best of times, and even a few key personnel missing could produce major disruption.

If GPs cannot open their surgeries or cannot carry out home visits, they will not be able to see patients.

Instead, patients will travel, perhaps unnecessarily, to A&E departments seeking treatment and putting hospital services under even more pressure.

Some hospitals have already cancelled non-emergency operations because of the problems staff have experienced getting to work.

If the fuel crisis continues and leads to greater problems for NHS staff, hospitals and ambulance services could come under immense pressure.

Any reduction in ambulance services will mean patients who need to be taken home are left in hospital beds which may be needed by others.

If no bed is available, routine operations may have to be cancelled.

Cancelled operations

Ambulances are often used to ferry less seriously ill patients to and from regular clinics. These may also be disrupted.

One of the greatest threats to the smooth running of the NHS is if supplies of essential medicines and products begin to dry up.

If suppliers of blood and other products are unable to carry out deliveries, hospitals across Britain will stockpile blood for emergency use, again cancelling routine operations.

Even the effects of disruption to ancilliary services such as cleaning and catering can be pronounced.

If laundry companies cannot pick up or drop off fresh linen, again the pressure is on to restrict the amount of non-urgent work.

All these knock-on effects could also have long term implications for the NHS and patients.

The government has expended vast amounts of money to shorten the hospital waiting lists by more than 100,000 since the last election, but the longer the fuel crisis goes on, the more likely it is that this work will begin to be undone.

Appointments will have to be re-scheduled and as the winter flu crisis showed earlier this year, it can take months before the backlog is cleared.

In this case, the fresh backlog might arrive just a month before the flu season is once again upon us, compounding the issue.

NHS staff work hard to cope with demand under normal circumstances. If services are pushed to the limit, the effects on patients are likely to be pronounced.