Responding to today’s NHS England Combined Performance Summary, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:
“New figures showing failures to meet key NHS targets have now become almost a monthly routine. The scale and length of this decline in performance show that we are looking at a systemic issue, rather than failings in a few hospitals or particular services. Simply piling on more pressure to meet each individual target won’t turn things around at this stage. We need to understand the complicated problems at the heart of the issue.“
“With great effort being put into new transformation plans this month, the NHS is supposed to be accelerating a process of radical change, finding alternatives to increasing the amount of hospital treatment. Yet these figures suggest we are going in the opposite direction, fast. More people than ever are being admitted to hospital in emergencies. More people than ever are staying in hospital when they shouldn’t have to because there are no proper arrangements for them to leave.”