Winter crisis cannot be solved by injecting cash - NHS boss
2 min read
The looming winter crisis in the NHS cannot be prevented by a cash injection, according to a senior health official.
The Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation Niall Dickson said it had become difficult to “overstate the perilous state of the health and care system in England”.
His comments come as a poll revealed 92% of healthcare bosses are concerned about how to cope with the colder months.
One recent report found the amount of critically ill patients waiting for ambulances has doubled in the last year.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the number of people waiting longer than the Government’s set target for emergency hospital care had hit a five-year high in England.
Mr Dickson said: “A cash injection at this stage is unlikely to solve the winter pressures, but the chancellor must revisit the pencilled in figures for 2018-19 and 2019-20, which if left as they are, would guarantee more crises and further delays to the reforms that are needed.”
He wrote in The Times: “Emergency departments are seen as a litmus test for the rest of the system. If the health service cannot cope at its front door, what lies behind it will also be struggling.
“Emergency admissions are continuing to rise — in the first quarter of this year there was a 25.9 per cent jump in responses to life-threatening ambulance calls — so the ambulance service too is under increasing strain.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “The NHS has record funding and more doctors and nurses on our wards. The NHS planned for winter earlier this year than ever before and has robust plans in place, supported by an extra £100 million for A&E departments and £2 billion for the social care system to help improve discharging and free up beds in hospitals."
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