NHS facing its 'toughest winter ever'

HEALTH SECRETARY'S WARNING AS REGION'S SERVICE UNDER SCRUTINY

- HELENA VESTY

THIS will be the 'toughest winter ever' for the NHS, the health service's chief executive and Health Secretary Wes Streeting have warned.

The verdict came in a nationwide meeting on Monday of NHS leaders ahead of the peak of winter, which has routinely seen the NHS descend into extreme pressures in recent years.

The warning was shared again yesterday by Sir Richard Leese in an update about Greater Manchester's NHS. The region is under high levels of scrutiny as it has been battling two years of serious struggles with its finances, mental health services and urgent and emergency care, he said.

The winter warning comes as Greater Manchester's NHS is in enforcement undertakings, as its governing body, NHS England, 'had reasonable grounds to suspect a potential failure, or that the region's NHS 'could be at risk of failing to discharge its function.

The region's NHS has been placed under extra scrutiny by national NHS chiefs as it stands in a more than £200m deficit, with that figure spiralling by tens of thousands of pounds a day during the last financial year.