Tackling backlogs no easy feat for NHS on its knees

Responding to the NAO report Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said:

“Today's report depicts clearly an NHS on its knees, trying to address the backlog in the face of huge pressures everywhere else. The urgent care system is at breaking point, with ambulances backed up outside hospitals and major problems in discharging patients into their own homes or care homes. The NAO report offers the right mix of solutions and proposals to tackle the backlog. But doing this in the face of such knotty and persistent problems will be no easy feat.

“As we recently showed, the immense pressures on the NHS we see today were building before Covid-19: even without the pandemic we would be looking at least 5.3 million people on the waiting list for care. And the health services in the UK face an even tougher road to recover from Covid-19 than other similar countries as we went into the pandemic with fewer beds and levels of equipment, poorer quality buildings and significant staff shortages."