The Health Foundation responds to NAO report on managing the flow of patients through hospitals
Responding to the National Audit Office’s report, Managing the flow of patients through hospital from A&E, Tim Gardner, Deputy Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, said:
‘The NAO’s report shines an important light on the considerable strain facing the NHS. Despite incremental improvements, the health service is still struggling to turn additional funding and staffing into shorter waits for patients who need urgent and emergency care.
‘Delays in patient flow through hospitals reflect deep-rooted pressures across the health and social care system, including increasingly complex patient needs and rising demand. But it also reflects constrained capacity within health and care services – insufficient bed capacity, difficulties in discharging patients who are medically fit to leave, and a lack of support outside hospital. Patients are bearing the consequences through long waits, overcrowded emergency departments and unacceptable experiences of corridor care.
‘Our latest polling shows that improving urgent and emergency care is the public’s top priority for the NHS [1]. Today’s report is a timely reminder that achieving that depends on action beyond hospitals – including better access to primary care, stronger community services, social care reform and a greater focus on prevention.
‘There are no quick fixes. Sustainable improvement will depend on tackling the underlying drivers of poor performance – including strengthening operational management and capital investment, addressing workforce pressures and boosting the capacity of community-based services outside of hospitals. It will also require stability and sustained long-term focus, at a time when the NHS is facing yet another disruptive structural reorganisation.’
Notes to editors
Media contact
Nadine Sheikh-Sobeh
Nadine.sheikh-sobeh@health.org.uk
020 8152 8120