Labour has called on the government to give health and care workers priority at the petrol pumps, warning that otherwise patients could die.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth was speaking amid increasingly urgent calls for help from care workers who are struggling to reach clients due to the fuel shortage.
One home care service said delays due to queues at petrol stations were forcing carers to push back calls to vulnerable elderly people and to work long after their shifts to ensure clients are seen.
Shaleeza Hasham of CHD Care at Home backed calls for prioritisation for key workers, saying the impact of the fuel shortage on carers and been “enormous”.
“Many of our carers are unable to get enough fuel to make their rounds as most petrol stations are limiting them to £30. Carers can do up to 100 miles per day so these restrictions mean that they are having to fuel up more often as they cannot fill their tanks,“ she said.
“We look after extremely vulnerable individuals, some of whom cannot even get out of bed without support or assistance, and the situation is proving extremely difficult and stressful. Being unable to get to clients who depend on us just isn’t an option.”
Homecare Association CEO Jane Townson said she had been appealing for assistance from the Department for Health since Friday, but had been told only that the situation was being considered.
“It seems the government has decided there isn’t an issue and that means local resilience fora can’t invoke their emergency plans,” said Ms Townson.
“We want essential workers, including home care workers, to have access to fuel. We need that now. We need the government to acknowledge that there are risks to the health and well-being of older and disabled people.”
Asked if health and care workers should be given priority access to fuel, Mr Ashworth told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “Yes. We are facing a crisis, because if doctors and nurses and midwives and care assistants can’t get to the bedsides of their patients, then people will be left stranded, people will be left in the most desperate of circumstances, some people could end up losing their lives.”
Mr Ashworth called on health secretary Sajid Javid to call an immediate meeting with health and care unions and professional bodies to reach agreement on a system to ensure key workers can access fuel during the current emergency.
“We need urgency and we need grip,” he said. “We haven’t had that so far.
“We can’t leave vulnerable and desperate patients stranded without the care that they deserve.
“It is time for some leadership here, because patients must come first and if a doctor or nurse can’t get to their patient, that is a catastrophe.”
The public sector union Unison has called for designated petrol stations to be set aside for key workers only.
And the East of England Co-op has said that if problems persist until Thursday, it will operate a key worker-only policy between 6-7am in order to ensure they are able to fill their tanks.
