Streeting accused of ignoring nurses’ safety warning

Wes Streeting has failed to respond to an “urgent” warning from a clinical group that safety is being compromised by gaps in community services, HSJ has been told.

Steph Lawrence, chief executive of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, wrote to the health and social care secretary more than a month ago, warning of “urgent concerns regarding safety, quality and oversight” of services, prompted by a coroner’s recent findings about a patient’s death last year.

Ms Lawrence, a nursing director in Leeds until 2024, said many necessary visits to patients in their homes were “not done” due to capacity. It is “equivalent to the crisis of corridor care in hospitals”, she said, but largely goes unrecorded and unrecognised.

In her letter to Mr Streeting, Ms Lawrence pointed to a “growing body of evidence” – including from coroners’ reports – highlighting pressing risks and harm from these gaps.

She told HSJ that she has received no reply from the minister, the Department of Health and Social Care, or NHS England.

She said: “This is very disappointing given that this is a serious patient safety issue, and to not have a response of any description after over a month is very worrying.”

Ms Lawrence called for national systems to be developed to “quantify and understand the scale” of community care gaps “across the country”. These unmet needs lacked oversight, she said, unlike emergency department delays and discharges. She asked for a meeting and offered to help develop the measures. 

The QICN – formerly known as the Queen’s Nursing Institute – has previously said needs being missed include: pain relief and support for people who are dying at home; fixing catheter problems; and caring for serious wounds.

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Source: HSJ, 15 October 2025