Trust leaders are bracing themselves for another tough winter
with concerns mounting over whether the health service can meet
key performance targets, a new NHS Providers survey has found.
They warn patient care is being put at risk because of delays in
being able to discharge thousands of people from hospitals and
mental health services when they could be cared for closer to
home.
The findings show how years of squeezed funding, major workforce
challenges and rising demand on hospitals and ambulance services
have taken their toll, with overstretched community and mental
health teams also coming under increasing strain.
These are huge challenges. Yet, NHS Providers' survey shows a
keen determination by health leaders to keep improving patient
care, and clear backing for the government's plans to shift care
out of hospitals to community-based services. There are also
signs that concerns about staff burnout and morale, although
still a major worry for trust leaders, are starting to come down
from very high levels recorded in recent years.
Survey findings include:
- Over 9 in 10 trust leaders (96%) raised concerns about the
impact of seasonal pressures over winter on their trust and local
area.
- Delayed discharge (57%), social care capacity (49%) and acute
bed capacity (43%) were identified as the top three greatest
risks to the provision of high-quality patient care over winter.
- Nearly three quarters of trust leaders (71%) and 100% of
acute specialist trust and ambulance trust respondents thought it
unlikely the NHS can meet the constitutional standards over the
next five years.
- Most (79%) trust leaders were very worried or worried about
whether their trusts have capacity to meet demand for services
over the next 12 months.
- 98% of trust leaders expressed support for the national
policy agenda to shift more care from acute services to community
and move care closer to home for patients.
- When considering how patient care could be improved, the top
three areas trust leaders would like the new government to
prioritise are capital investment in estates (54%), capital
investment in digital (48%) and social care (41%).
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said:
"The NHS has had its busiest ever summer and won't get a moment's
respite as it heads into another gruelling winter.
“Despite this, trust leaders know the health service needs to
work differently to improve care for patients.
“And, with a significant - and welcome - boost for the NHS in the
Budget, they are fully aware the health service needs to provide
more bang for the buck, too. They are working flat out to improve
services, reduce waiting lists, and see patients as quickly as
possible.
“But after years of underinvestment and severe staff shortages,
there needs to be realism about how quickly this will happen.
It's worrying so many trust leaders are sceptical about the
prospects for meeting performance standards set out in the NHS
constitution – such as the four-hour target for A & E or the
eighteen-week standard for planned hospital treatment – over the
next five years.
"However, these survey findings also show health leaders back
Lord Darzi's prescription for reforming the health service. They
are ready and willing to work with the government on the 10-year
plan to tackle head on the challenges facing the health and care
system.
“They wholeheartedly agree that digitising the NHS, focusing on
prevention and public health, delivering care closer to home and
investing in the NHS' bricks and mortar are vital steps to
tackling demand and improving productivity, which are fundamental
to get the health service back on track.
“This must be backed up with long-term sustainable funding and
investment- including in social care, which has been overlooked
for far too long.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- 171 trust leaders from 118 trusts responded to the survey,
accounting for 56% of the provider sector. All trust
types and regions were represented in the survey.
- The survey was open from 10th September to 3rd October.
