Commenting on the Royal College of Physicians of London report, ‘Underfunded, underdoctored, overstretched - the NHS in 2016’, Prof Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:
“This report paints a worrying picture of the current state of the NHS. We recognise the challenges that it sets out, which will only be exacerbated with the onset of winter.
“Last week our Past, Present and Future conference debated many of these issues. Nigel Edwards of The Nuffield Trust highlighted that £4billion of the £8billion coming to the NHS is from within existing budgets. This is insufficient to address these issues with the urgency required.
“Creating value in the NHS was a central theme of our conference. Prof Sir Muir Gray recognised that everything we do as healthcare professionals must have value for patients and we all have a role to play in creating sustainability in the NHS.
"We must address the challenges currently facing the NHS to ensure that we have a healthcare system and workforce that is able to meet the demands placed upon it both now and in the future."
ENDS
The full report is available here.
Contact: Lisa Rooke, RCPE - 0131 247 3688 / 07717 895628 / l.rooke@rcpe.ac.uk
