RCP president Professor Jane Dacre welcomes the findings of the House of Commons Health Committee report on winter planning in accident and emergency (A&E) departments.
Commenting on the release of Winter pressure in accident and emergency departments, Professor Dacre said:
This report is yet more evidence of the strain the NHS is under, as outlined in the RCP’s recent report Underfunded, underdoctored, overstretched. The Health Committee has clearly taken on board the evidence from health organisations including the RCP that the problems facing the NHS are complex and reflect the wider pressures on the NHS and social care.
Underfunding of social care, staffing shortages, and lack of hospital beds all contribute to delayed transfers of care which place increasing pressures on A&E departments. We agree with the Committee that there should be an increase in social care funding, which will help to alleviate the situation, but we also need a sustained increase for the whole of the NHS.
The Committee also notes that some hospitals manage patient flow better than others, and we know from our own Future Hospital Programme that there are innovative solutions to decreasing the burden on A&E departments. These transformation projects need protected funds to free up staff and in some cases run services in parallel to allow new models of delivery to embed, so investment plans need to take account of that.
Follow @RCPLondon on Twitter for updates on our work, including Underfunded, underdoctored, overstretched and the Future Hospital Programme.
For more infromation please call Morgan Evans, RCP senior communications adviser: +44 (0)20 3075 1468.