Tories act to prevent NHS crisis hitting election hopes
No 10 plans to set up emergency unit to oversee the service as doctors warn of ‘extreme pressure’
Downing Street has taken emergency action to head off winter pressures in the NHS amid growing fears in government that a healthcare crisis could derail the Tory party’s general election campaign.
The prime minister Boris Johnson has been holding regular meetings at No 10 with the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, as evidence mounts of lengthening delays in treatment caused by shortages of doctors and nurses. In addition, the health secretary Matt Hancock has been seeing Stevens every week, on Monday mornings, to assess how to prevent a deterioration in waiting times at hospitals and GP surgeries.