Commenting on The King’s Fund’s latest quarterly monitoring report, Professor Derek Bell, President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:
“This report from The King’s Fund is further evidence that the demand for services is growing and far faster than budgets can cope with. Delaying or cancelling spending to achieve financial targets is not a sustainable model. While it is encouraging to see an improvement in A&E waiting times in the last quarter of 2016/17, the deterioration in other areas - treatment times and the increase in delayed discharges – highlights the challenges the NHS faces in England and the impact they are having on our patients and our workforce.
“Our ‘Health Priorities’ for the next UK Government calls for a radical rethink to declutter the many costly initiatives that exist in the NHS and help cope with demand. All initiatives must have strong evidence to support them, be thoroughly evaluated for outcome, and lead to solid and sustainable improvements in the long term, particularly as we move towards the further integration of health and social care.
“We acknowledge the funding challenges that the NHS faces but believe that by rethinking our approach to focus on long-term and sustainable solutions, we can achieve a world-class workforce delivering the best possible patient care safely.”
Contact: Lindsay Paterson l.paterson@rcpe.ac.uk 0131 247 3673
Notes
1. The Quarterly Monitoring Report from the Kings Fund can be found here
2. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh is an independent clinical standard-setting body and professional membership organisation, which continually aims to improve and maintain the quality of patient care. Founded in 1681, we support and educate doctors in the hospital sector throughout the UK and the world with over 12,000 Fellows and Members in over 90 countries, covering 54 medical specialties and interests. Physicians are leaders within healthcare teams and engage in difficult discussions about prognosis and treatment options.
3. The College’s Health Priorities 2017 is available here.
