The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today published a report, The state of care in NHS acute hospitals, warning that the NHS is now on ‘a burning platform’ and that patient safety is at risk due to ‘unprecedented’ demand.
The report states that urgent action is needed to ensure the NHS is able to deliver safe and effective care for patients.
Professor Jane Dacre, president of the Royal College of Physicians responded saying:
The CQC’s report is yet more evidence that the NHS is struggling to meet rising demand.
Demand has been increasing by 4% a year, but funding has failed to keep pace. Indeed, 85% of hospital doctors have told us that current funding is insufficient to meet demand. We have heard repeatedly from our members that there are not enough doctors and that gaps in rotas are becoming increasingly widespread. Doctors have also told us that this is putting patients at risk. In our recent report, Against the odds, the RCP set out the scale of the challenge and the level of demand that is being placed on the NHS now and over the recent winter months.
While physicians are doing their best to deliver safe and effective care for patients under increasingly difficult circumstances, urgent action is needed to ensure that services are properly resourced to meet the demands that are placed upon them and that staff are supported to deliver the excellent care that patients deserve.