NHS under unprecedented pressure due to unrelenting flu wave

Responding to the latest NHS performance stats, Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said:

'The NHS is under unprecedented pressure due to an unrelenting flu wave while also facing uncertainty as to whether it will have to face another round of industrial action – something that will prove a challenge for staff and NHS leaders to manage. It is the ‘worst case scenario’ and will be worrying to staff and patients alike.

'The paragraph above could have been written around this time every year since the pandemic and shows just how long staff and patients have been suffering from a creaking health care system. It is being exacerbated by high staff absence rates, with an average of 53,000 people off each day.

'The situation should be a clear example to ministers of how important their upcoming workforce plan will be. The plan needs to ensure that the NHS can cope with these bouts of illness, even at the times of highest demand. It should be taking steps such as aligning immigration policies with workforce policies to ensure a stable nursing workforce, and prioritising staff wellbeing and leadership to build resilience into the parts of the system that are feeling winter most sharply.

'Hospitals are now experiencing dangerously high demand, with 95% of beds occupied last week, but they now lack enough staff to care for patients. Building out more frontline emergency care is welcome, but it is a sticking plaster measure that fails to address the more serious wound of a lack of social care capacity.

‘It is going to take focus from the very centre of government to grip this issue and support the Casey review to ensure it does not face delays, and that its eventual recommendations are considered seriously and real change is enacted. It will also require the government to successfully shift focus to preventing illness in the first place and providing more care closer to home, leaving hospitals as spaces for those who are more acutely unwell.

‘This will need to be delivered at the same time as the government realises its plans for greater use of AI and technology in the NHS and further capital investment to support NHS staff to deliver high-quality care in and out of hospital.

‘The dire situation currently outlines the urgency with which these reforms need to be implemented. An urgency that the Secretary of State will need to follow through on if he is to achieve his pledge of ending corridor care by the end of this parliament.’

Notes to editors

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The King's Fund is an independent charity working to improve people's health. Our vision is a world where everyone can live a healthy life. Our mission is to inspire hope and build confidence for positive change. We achieve this through expert insights and original research, developing leaders and their organisations, convening, and strategic, collaborative partnerships.