Priorities recognise challenge of perilous winter for NHS and care services but there are no quick fixes

Responding to Our plan for patients announced by the Health Secretary in the House of Commons, Nuffield Trust Director of Strategy Helen Buckingham said:

“The priorities set out today by the Health Secretary recognise that services right across NHS and care are in severe difficulties ahead of a perilous winter.

“The Secretary of State’s commitment to be “proactive and not prescriptive” is a refreshing change from a tendency towards top-down micromanagement of the NHS, although this seems at odds with the commitment to specify timescales for patients to see a GP.

“The plan contains some practical steps that are to be welcomed – from enhanced roles for pharmacists, opening up overseas recruitment routes for dentists, and making better use of GP support staff. These are important steps that should help free up overstretched staff.

“But these solutions are a drop in the ocean when compared to the sobering scale of the task ahead. The health and care system faces a dangerous situation this winter. Staff shortages, staff burnout, and overcrowding at A&E are already having a dire impact on the provision of health care to those most in need – and there is nothing in this plan that will turn that around, either in the short term or beyond. There is no quick fix to the staffing crisis which has been left to overwhelm health and care services through years of neglect and it is disappointing that the long-awaited workforce plan will be delayed further.

“Sorting out the problems at the ‘back door’ of hospitals is vital this winter. A £500 million fund to support care at home and elsewhere outside of hospitals will be valuable, but this approach is another one-off designed to keep a creaking system ticking over and will not help the sector to attract desperately needed care workers.”