DoH desperate Health Secretary Alan Milburn has put the NHS on red alert, ordering all regions to have emergency plans in place for dealing with the shortages. But the Department of Health has been accused of exaggerating the crisis as hospitals and the blood service denied they were experiencing the severe problems claimed in official press releases. Mr Milburn has instructed local NHS services to put into place emergency planning procedures normally used for coping with major incidents and winter pressures. All parts of the NHS were instructed to have contingency plans for dealing with emergencies only if the situation did not improve. And the Department of Health issued a regional breakdown of the worst affected areas.
Patients are unable to get to hospital.
Operations are being cancelled. Drugs, food and medical supplies are now running short. The NHS is increasingly unable to do its job properly. But DoH claims in a press release were immediately denied by the National Blood Service. The department claimed that central blood stocks could only last for another four days and that there were problems with distributing supplies in some areas like Southampton, Yorkshire and the north of England.