Nuffield Trust response to latest NHS performance stats

Commenting on NHS performance data published today, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Thea Stein said:  

“Today’s figures underline the huge task ahead for the government and incoming NHS England chief Sir Jim Mackey to equip the NHS to meet patient need whilst balancing the books.  

“While the figures show progress is being made on waiting times, with the waiting list for elective care having fallen by 35,094 in January, and 44,628 fewer patients waiting over four hours at A&E in February, this is dwarfed by the magnitude of the continued backlog for care. The numbers of individual patients on the waiting list actually grew in January and it is still proving relentlessly difficult for local systems to smoothly move patients through hospital.  

“As many professional groups have pointed out, corridor care has become normalised. Today’s figures show a previously unthinkable 47,623 patients waiting over 12 hours to be admitted to hospital from A&E, shedding further light on the extent of this across the country.   
 
“NHS leaders are meeting today to discuss a financial “reset” in the face of a yawning deficit. Yet it is crystal clear that the financial challenges facing the NHS are inextricably linked to the pressures caused by continued and growing demand for health care, the problems presented by poor or patchy social care provision, and a lack of systematic investment in primary and community care. 
 
“Continued salami slicing and reducing so-called back office staff are therefore unlikely to be the answer to what is now a fundamental mismatch between the supply of health care, demand for it, and the state of NHS resources – from buildings to the morale of the staff.  

“But the alternatives – finding more money or facing up to tough conversations with the public about what the NHS should stop doing – are politically highly problematic.”