Commenting on the annual report from the Care Quality Commission, ‘The state of health care and adult social care in England’, Prof Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

“This report raises a number of safety concerns about hospitals in England, particularly in urgent and emergency care and medical services.  As the CQC notes, it will be difficult to make improvements in these areas unless primary care and adult social care are adequately funded.

“With an ageing population, new models of care should be considered and whole systems approaches taken to ensure high quality treatment, both in hospital and the community.

“We must also be careful not to place any blame on patients who present to A&E or are admitted to hospital due to their difficulties accessing primary and social care services”.

The full report is available here

Contact: Sara Collier - 0131 247 3658 / s.collier@rcpe.ac.uk