Syria: UN Security Council Members Meet In NY

How Chemical Weapons Can Be Removed

Updated: 8:14pm UK, Tuesday 10 September 2013

By Ian Woods, Senior News Correspondent

The US government has some expertise in how international observers can oversee the disposal of unwanted chemical weapons.

The Americans have allowed inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to supervise the elimination of their own stockpiles of unwanted sarin, VX and mustard gas.

The shells were part of a Cold War arsenal which had to be destroyed after the US became one of the 189 countries which signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which was drawn up in the mid-1990s.

So, as the White House tries to work out whether the Russian/Syrian disarmament offer is genuine, it knows that where there is the will, there is a way. 

The first step would be for Syria to sign and ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, which reports suggest it is now prepared to do.

It was one of only five countries to refuse to sign up; the others are Egypt, Angola, North Korea and South Sudan.

Israel and Burma signed but did not ratify the convention.

Once formal agreement is in place, Syria would have to provide a full inventory of stockpile locations and manufacturing sites, which would then be verified by inspectors from the OPCW.

The international experts would monitor the destruction of the weapons, but it would be up to the Syrians themselves to do the work, and to pay for it.

Many international chemical weapons experts believe there are substantial stocks to be destroyed. 

Hamish de Bretton Gordon told Sky News that Mr Assad has "up to a 1,000 tonnes of sarin, slightly less of VX",

He said: "He has substantial amounts of mustard gas, potentially also biological weapons.

"The fact that he's now agreed that the international community take control of his stockpile of chemical weapons is a pretty fair indicator that he has what we think he has.

"This strikes me as being a lengthy and fairly laborious exercise, but some lateral thinking and some bold action is what is required. Technically it's workable."

The OPCW is not part of the United Nations, so a UN resolution is not necessary to get inspectors into Syria if the regime in Damascus becomes a willing signatory.

Within 30 days of signing the Chemical Weapons Convention Syria would be legally obliged to allow the inspectors access.

It could take several weeks to get inspectors on the ground and ensure it is safe for them to carry out their task.

A country torn apart by an ongoing civil war is not the most stable place to be overseeing the collection and disposal of chemical weapons and the destruction of the arsenal will take many months.

Sky News visited Anniston, Alabama, in 2003 when the US Army was beginning the task of destroying its ageing and corroding stockpile of chemical weapons.

The site held just 7% of America's arsenal of such weapons. It took eight years to complete the task.

By 2012 almost 90% of America's chemical arsenal had been destroyed. Two more sites are currently being built in Colorado and Kentucky to destroy what remains.

But such weapons are usually destroyed in peacetime, not in the midst of a war.

Professor Alastair Hay from the University of Leeds has worked on chemical weapons issues for four decades.

He said: "The inspectors couldn't do their work if they were being shot at so you will have to ensure that the inspectors are safe, and that they can get access to all of the sites that they can do a decent inventory.

"Having located all those stocks, what's the best way of securing them? Should they stay where they are and be monitored, or should they be moved?

"And of course if they need to be moved, where would they go? And can you transport them safely to some other location, moving them through residential locations?

"But if it can de done it's much better than blowing these things up."

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Syria Crisis: Vladimir Putin's Letter To America

By Vladimir Putin, Russian President, For New York Times

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization - the United Nations - was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations' founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America's consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today's complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack - this time against Israel - cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America's long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan "you're either with us or against us."

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government's willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president's interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is "what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional." It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

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Nigel Evans Sex Charges: Deputy Speaker Quits

Deputy Commons Speaker Nigel Evans has resigned after being charged with a string of offences including sexual assault and rape.

The 55-year-old Tory MP is accused of two counts of indecent assault, five counts of sexual assault and one rape count in relation to seven men.

Evans, who represents the Ribble Valley constituency in Lancashire, will appear before magistrates in Preston on September 18.

The director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said: "Following an investigation by Lancashire police, the Crown Prosecution Service has received a file of evidence in the case of Mr Nigel Evans MP which concerns allegations of a sexual nature.

"After careful consideration, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to prosecute Mr Evans."

In a statement outside Preston police station Evans said he would "robustly defend my innocence" against the allegations which he described as "incredulous".

Evans is still working as an MP

The indecent assaults are alleged to have been committed between January 1, 2002, and January 1, 2004; the sexual assaults between January 1, 2009, and April 1, 2013, and the rape between March 29, 2013, and April 1.

Evans, from Pendleton in Lancashire, answered bail on Tuesday having previously been arrested in May and June.

He was rearrested and interviewed by detectives throughout the day before being charged.

The Swansea-born politician had arrived earlier at the police station, driven by his solicitor.

He smiled and said "thanks for coming" to reporters who had gathered outside.

He dismissed the original allegations against him as "completely false", and said they had been made by two people he had "regarded as friends".

He has stepped aside from his Speaker duties since his arrest, but has continued to work as an MP.

He was one of three deputy speakers elected in a secret ballot of MPs in 2010.

Later that year he came out as gay, saying he was "tired of living a lie".

Mr Evans was a vice chairman of the Conservative Party from 1999 to 2001. When Iain Duncan Smith became party leader in 2001, he was promoted to the shadow cabinet as shadow Welsh secretary - a post he held for two years.

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Syria: Obama Cautious Over Weapons Deal

How Chemical Weapons Can Be Removed

Updated: 8:14pm UK, Tuesday 10 September 2013

By Ian Woods, Senior News Correspondent

The US government has some expertise in how international observers can oversee the disposal of unwanted chemical weapons.

The Americans have allowed inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to supervise the elimination of their own stockpiles of unwanted sarin, VX and mustard gas.

The shells were part of a Cold War arsenal which had to be destroyed after the US became one of the 189 countries which signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which was drawn up in the mid-1990s.

So, as the White House tries to work out whether the Russian/Syrian disarmament offer is genuine, it knows that where there is the will, there is a way. 

The first step would be for Syria to sign and ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, which reports suggest it is now prepared to do.

It was one of only five countries to refuse to sign up; the others are Egypt, Angola, North Korea and South Sudan.

Israel and Burma signed but did not ratify the convention.

Once formal agreement is in place, Syria would have to provide a full inventory of stockpile locations and manufacturing sites, which would then be verified by inspectors from the OPCW.

The international experts would monitor the destruction of the weapons, but it would be up to the Syrians themselves to do the work, and to pay for it.

Many international chemical weapons experts believe there are substantial stocks to be destroyed. 

Hamish de Bretton Gordon told Sky News that Mr Assad has "up to a 1,000 tonnes of sarin, slightly less of VX",

He said: "He has substantial amounts of mustard gas, potentially also biological weapons.

"The fact that he's now agreed that the international community take control of his stockpile of chemical weapons is a pretty fair indicator that he has what we think he has.

"This strikes me as being a lengthy and fairly laborious exercise, but some lateral thinking and some bold action is what is required. Technically it's workable."

The OPCW is not part of the United Nations, so a UN resolution is not necessary to get inspectors into Syria if the regime in Damascus becomes a willing signatory.

Within 30 days of signing the Chemical Weapons Convention Syria would be legally obliged to allow the inspectors access.

It could take several weeks to get inspectors on the ground and ensure it is safe for them to carry out their task.

A country torn apart by an ongoing civil war is not the most stable place to be overseeing the collection and disposal of chemical weapons and the destruction of the arsenal will take many months.

Sky News visited Anniston, Alabama, in 2003 when the US Army was beginning the task of destroying its ageing and corroding stockpile of chemical weapons.

The site held just 7% of America's arsenal of such weapons. It took eight years to complete the task.

By 2012 almost 90% of America's chemical arsenal had been destroyed. Two more sites are currently being built in Colorado and Kentucky to destroy what remains.

But such weapons are usually destroyed in peacetime, not in the midst of a war.

Professor Alastair Hay from the University of Leeds has worked on chemical weapons issues for four decades.

He said: "The inspectors couldn't do their work if they were being shot at so you will have to ensure that the inspectors are safe, and that they can get access to all of the sites that they can do a decent inventory.

"Having located all those stocks, what's the best way of securing them? Should they stay where they are and be monitored, or should they be moved?

"And of course if they need to be moved, where would they go? And can you transport them safely to some other location, moving them through residential locations?

"But if it can de done it's much better than blowing these things up."

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria: Rebels Give US Targets To Defeat Regime

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, on the Syria-Turkey border

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the United States intelligence services are working together on targets that will bring about regime change in the country, according to FSA commanders.

Senior FSA members in Aleppo have confirmed they have provided five specific targets that will degrade the Syrian army, will not impact on the civilian population and will give them the upper hand in the coming months.

It is widely acknowledged in northern Syria that this type of information is being passed to US "handlers" across the battlefield that is now Syria.

It means that rebel groups are passing on a picture of Bashar al Assad's force position throughout the country to the CIA.

It is an open secret that the US is training, and heavily linked to, the FSA and rebel groups in Turkey and Jordan.

British advisors are assisting rebel groups on a variety of levels but the Government continues to insist that it is "non-military".

FSA sources tell Sky News that is true, but only in the "broadest sense" of non-military assistance.

Proposed US attacks on Syria have divided the population

The key question for rebel fighters is how significant the US attacks, if they come, will be.

In an Aleppo Christian church they have taken over a 3D model of the entire city. It is now covered in marker pins identifying rebel and government positions.

This is part of their planning meetings and indicates a new level of sophistication in their thought processes. They have been hopeless at times.

"We have targets and we have passed them onto our American contacts and we hope they will follow our advice," the number two commander for the FSA's Ahrar Souria Brigade, Abu Nabhan, told me.

Rebel fighters say they would join up with Jihadi groups to fight Mr Assad

"I wont tell you the targets but they are specific and they will help us," he said.

The FSA say 13 of its brigades will join as one in the aftermath of "substantial" US attacks and will co-operate with Jihadi groups in a push on Damascus and to the west towards the Alawite strongholds in Latakia on the Mediterranean seaboard.

Inside northern Syrian though, daily life gets grimmer by the day.

Whole villages, repopulated in recent months, are deserted once again.

Government jets and helicopters are destroying whole streets at a time with enormous bombs.

Sky News spent the last few days driving through towns and villages that are almost completely empty and finding groups of internally displaced camping by the border with Turkey, undecided if they should become refugees or return home and see if there is anything left of their former lives.

On the border Nato's second largest army is mobilising. Turkish hardware is being deployed everywhere.

This is a region preparing for a major escalation in fighting.

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Syria: Obama Sells Attack To US In TV Blitz

Barack Obama has appeared on American television to build support for military action against Syria over chemical weapons.

He took to the airwaves in a bid to persuade the US public - and Congress - to back strikes against President Bashar al Assad's regime.

The US government says it has amassed evidence that Mr Assad's forces carried out a poisonous gas attack on August 21 near Damascus which Washington says killed 1,400 people.

Mr Obama told Fox News' Chris Wallace: "Mr Assad's capabilities are significant compared to a bunch of opposition leaders, many of whom are not professional fighters.

"Even Assad's allies recognise that he crossed the line in using chemical weapons."

Barack Obama addresses the American people on Fox News

Asked if he would delay action to see if Syria agreed to a Russian proposal, urging Mr Assad to place the arsenal under international control, Mr Obama replied: "I think it's fair to say that we would not be at this point without a credible threat of a military strike, but I welcome the possibility of the development.

"I think we should explore and exhaust all avenues of diplomatic resolution of this, but I think it's important for us to keep the pressure on."

"It's not enough just to trust," he said, quoting former US president Ronald Reagan, adding: "I think we are going to have to verify."

Mr Obama conceded the American people "were not persuaded" on an attack and that he thought the debate currently taking place in Congress would take same time, and possibly run into weeks.

"I fervently hope that this can be resolved in a non-military way, but I think it is important for us not to to take the pedal off the metal when it comes to making sure they understand we mean what we say."

He said US military leaders had assured him that "when I make a decision to launch a strike they can do it and still be effective whether it's today, tomorrow or a month from now."

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Cops Apologise After Challenging Duke At Palace

The Duke of York has said he is "grateful" for an apology from police after officers challenged him in the Buckingham Palace gardens.

The Met confirmed he was ordered to verify his identity by two officers at around 6pm on Wednesday.

A police spokesman said: "The man was satisfactorily identified. No weapons were drawn and no force was used."

He was challenged after returning from an engagement in London's Piccadilly - at an event to support new business ventures.

The confrontation came less than 48 hours after a break-in at the palace where an intruder was able to scale a fence and get inside the building before being arrested.

A security review has been launched following Monday night's suspected burglary which happened when the Queen was not in residence.

Police said the man was found shortly before 10.30pm "in an area currently open to the public during the day" and arrested for burglary, trespass and criminal damage.

A second man was arrested outside the palace for conspiracy to commit burglary.

There was a break-in at the palace on Monday night

Both men have been bailed to return to a central London police station while enquiries continue.

Prince Andrew said in a statement: "The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the Royal Family and deterring intruders, and sometimes they get it wrong.

"I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the future."

In response the Met said: "In light of media reports we can confirm that the man spoken to by officers was the Duke of York. We are making this public with HRH's permission.

"We are grateful to the Duke for his understanding and have apologised for any inconvenience caused."

The Queen made her traditional appearance at a Highland Games on Saturday as details of the break-in emerged.

She was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales at the Braemar Gathering in Aberdeenshire, where the royal party watched pipe bands and dancers perform to a large crowd.

The Queen has been spending her summer break at Balmoral Castle since the beginning of August and is not expected to return to the palace until October.

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'It Never Stops': 24hrs Inside A Busy A&E Unit

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

During Sky News' live 24 hour broadcast from one of Britain's busiest A&E units, medical staff dealt with 406 admissions in total.

Of these, 91 of the patients admitted were children. And 15 were major trauma cases - the patients with the most serious and potentially life threatening injuries.

The demand for emergency medical care came in waves. It never stopped.

There was a pattern to the type of patients coming through the door of the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Sky News was broadcasting from inside Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham

On Saturday afternoon and early evening the resuscitation unit was busy assessing and treating trauma patients - suspected spinal injuries, badly broken bones, and people involved in car accidents.

Later in the night there were patients brought in who had drunk too much. They were volatile and some needed restraining.

Then on Sunday morning there were parents who brought in their children. Not all were seriously ill, but with GP surgeries closed at the weekend they may not have been sure of where else to go for help.

And staff clocked off at the end of their shift knowing it will be just as busy tomorrow.

The challenge faced by medical teams in A&Es across Britain was summed up best by nurse John Simons-Clark, who told Sky News: "I think people's expectations have changed".

medical staff at the A&E dealt with 406 admissions in total in 24 hours

"We live in a faster society where people want things now, now, now."

It's only the beginning of September but already the hospital is on a winter footing.

"We think we are in winter. We last week decided that it's time to start acting as if we are in winter. There are a lot of people coming to hospital," said Dr Jack Hawkins, head of acute medicine.

Asked why, he replied: "There are a lot of people getting older. They often get sicker. They need to come to hospital. They sometimes stay longer. It's a whole combination of different things."

At the beginning of our live coverage, we heard from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who admitted to being "concerned" about the high demand for emergency care and the pressure staff are under.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of a repeat winter A&E crisis

In the first three months of this year 94 out of 148 hospital trusts failed to meet the target for treating 95% of patients within four hours of them arriving at A&E.

Although the pressure eased over the summer, waiting times have begun to climb once more. Some hospitals are already breaching the target, even before winter pressures kick in.

There are signs imploring people with minor medical problems to stay away. The reality is that many people do not know where to go for urgent medical care - but the doors of A&E are always open.

Staff will rise to the challenge. But there is only so much they can do.

They need a long term plan from the Department of Health that reduces the number of patients turning up for care. And they need better social care provision, so they can discharge elderly patients much faster.

Only then will the pressure ease.

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Millions 'Should Not Be In A&E' - Exclusive

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

Up to 6.5 million patients every year should avoid going to A&E and be treated by GPs, paramedics and even chemists instead, the doctor leading the review of NHS emergency services claims today.

Around one third of all people who visit A&E each year could be diverted away from hospital under plans to be unveiled shortly by NHS chiefs.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, the doctor in charge of re-shaping emergency services in England said family doctors, ambulance staff and pharmacists could treat them instead to relieve the pressure on A&E.

Indicating for the first time how he hopes to radically reform A&E, Professor Keith Willett, the national director for Acute Episodes of Care, said: "We know that 15% to 30% of people who turn up to be treated at A&E could have been treated in general practice.

"They did not know that because the system did not obviously make itself available to them."

He said patients with routine medical problems are going to A&E because they cannot get a quick enough appointment with their GP. Others are frustrated by out-of-hours services.

Prof Willett says a long-term solution is needed

"We can look at the way primary care is available to people," he said.

"By changing the way we deliver services we can start to address the demand. We can do the same thing in terms of the ambulance services and how much, how many patients they treat, at the scene, rather than transfer and that's about them having the right information.

"We would look to the public to understand the issues and when the situation does get difficult, to take the advice that I've suggested about phoning first, to get the right advice, to go to the right place, to think of using your general practitioner or indeed your pharmacist, (who) give a lot of advice for minor ailments."

Professor Willett and the medical director for NHS England, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, will publish their plan for reforming emergency services later this autumn. It is expected to be implemented two years from now.

The plan will acknowledge that demand for care will continue to rise with an ageing population. But it will set out a series of measures for reducing pressure on A&E departments.

They are expected to include:

:: A&E units will have to ensure a consultant is available seven days a week

:: Other senior doctors, such as elderly care specialists, will be expected to help assess and treat patients arriving at A&E

:: Paramedics will treat more patients at home or by the roadside so they don't need hospital care

:: Patients will be encouraged to 'ring first', using the NHS111 helpline to be directed towards appropriate care.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants GPs to be more proactive

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also said GPs must take on a bigger role. Next week he will call on GPs to do more to prevent patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, from suffering emergency complications.

In an interview for State Of Emergency, Sky News' 24 hours of live coverage from Nottingham's Queen Medical Centre which begins today at 5pm, Mr Hunt said: "The role of GPs in caring for older people needs to be proactive - checking up on people, finding out how they are, heading off problems before they happen - rather than reactive.

"GPs are busy, so to make that happen we have to find ways of getting more capacity in the system and that is a big challenge.

"But we have to address that. In the end, if the NHS is to be sustainable, it has to be about prevention as much as cure."

But GPs say they are already doing what they can.

Professor Mike Pringle, president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "They are overwhelmed by the workload they are expected to deliver.

"We have got to start to build general practice, not blame it, not victimise it.

"We have to invest in it if we are going to solve these problems. And I am sure the Secretary of State recognises that."

England's A&E departments were under severe pressure last winter.

Waiting times reached their worst in nine years between January and March 2013, with more than 300,000 patients waiting more than four hours for treatment.

The Government has given the NHS an extra £500m over two years to find short-term solutions to the likely rise in demand for emergency care in the winter months.

Hospitals could bring GPs into A&E departments to see patients with more minor problems and more locum A&E doctors are likely to be employed to fill vacancies.

Only half the training posts for emergency medicine have been filled in the last two years, and more than a third of hospital trusts have vacancies for A&E consultants.

Professor Willett said a long-term solution is required.

"We do have to address the emergency medicine workforce," he said.

"But that will not produce new consultants for several years. So we have to manage the situation and take away from emergency medicine teams those patients who could be managed by other parts of the system.

"Defaulting to seeing an emergency medicine consultant is not necessary for many of those patients and it is frustrating to wait."

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Sky Poll: Drunk A&E Patients Should Be Charged

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

Patients who visit A&E while drunk or under the influence of recreational drugs should pay for the treatment they receive, according to the large majority of people questioned for a Sky News poll.

More than seven in 10 of those questioned said anyone needing emergency medical care because they were intoxicated should be charged for using NHS services.

Experts say at least seven million people a year attend A&E while drunk, placing an enormous strain on health service resources.

Sky News is broadcasting from inside the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham

The poll commissioned for State of Emergency, Sky News' weekend of live coverage from Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, shows that two in three people believe A&E services are in crisis and patients are being put at risk.

The Sky News poll of 1,106 people carried out by Survation also shows that eight out of 10 believe the Government must take immediate action to avoid major issues in A&E.

And more than six in 10 blame government cuts for any staff shortages and poor levels of care.

However, three-quarters of those questioned agreed that doctors and nurses were trying their best but were being worked too hard.

To address the A&E care crisis, almost two-thirds of those asked thought consultants should be forced to work weekends and nights, with four in 10 saying senior doctors who refuse should receive less pay.

More than nine out of 10 opposed the provision of breast enlargements and tattoo removals on the NHS.

Nearly two-thirds also believed NHS managers were paid too much.

The think tank 2020health estimates that on an average weekday up to three out of every 10 patients attending A&E are there because of alcohol, and at the weekend that goes up to seven in 10.

Chief executive Julia Manning said: "We should be sending a really strong message that this is a misuse of A&E. A&E is there for people who've had road trauma accidents (and) major health incidents.

"It's not there for people who have just been mucking around and drinking too much. So we need to think of a way of creating a disincentive for people to get drunk and go to A&E, and we think one of the ways is that people should be invoiced for that use of A&E."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News that while he understood the public desire for the move, it would be a difficult measure to introduce.

"I understand why people would want that, but I think in practice it's very, very difficult to differentiate between the people who have a health problem because of a direct decision they've taken themselves, and people who are unlucky.

"I think it's also one of the fundamental things that we all love about the NHS - that in an emergency you can turn up at a hospital and get treated.

"I think the day we started differentiating and saying we're only going to treat some people, and other people are going to have to pay, I think would be a step in the wrong direction."

On Saturday, Mr Hunt warned that it would be "very, very tough" for the NHS to avoid a repeat of last winter's A&E care crisis.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, the Health Secretary admitted to being "concerned" about the high demand for emergency care and the pressure staff are under.

In the first three months of this year 94 out of 148 hospital trusts failed to meet the target for treating 95% of patients within four hours of them arriving at A&E.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of a repeat winter A&E crisis

Although the pressure eased over the summer, waiting times have begun to climb once more. Some hospitals are already breaching the target, even before winter pressures kick in.

The Government has given the NHS an extra £500m to pay for short term measures over the next two years to help ease the pressure.

That could include employing more locum consultants in A&E departments and setting up GP surgeries inside hospitals.

"A lot of things are happening to give support to the front line," said Mr Hunt.

"But that's not to say we are not worried about it, because it is going to be very tough, and we understand that."

The national director for acute episodes of care for NHS England, Professor Keith Willett, told Sky News that demand for emergency care is likely to rise once again this winter.

He will shortly unveil plans to divert more A&E patients towards the care of GPs, paramedics and chemists.

But in the short term patients will have to accept they have to wait for care.

"Safety is the priority," he said.

"We will do everything we can to maximise the way patients receive their care as quickly and optimally as possible.

"But it is a pressured system and we have to work within the envelope we have and the skills and staff we have."

:: As part of the poll 1,106 adults were surveyed on 2-3 September by Survation on behalf of Sky News.

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