NHS Confederation responds to latest NHS urgent and emergency care data and GP appointment figures

Responding to NHS England’s latest weekly winter situation report for Urgent and Emergency Care and the release of new data on GP appointments by NHS Digital, Matthew Taylor chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:

“These figures once again show that the NHS is coming under real strain with hospital beds still very full and although the percentage increase is small there is a worrying uptick in the number of children needing to be admitted to paediatric beds.

“While it is encouraging to see staff sickness rates continuing to come down this is from a very high level and with over 40% of staff still absent because of COVID our members are reporting ongoing difficulties in filling capacity and plugging gaps in staff rotas.

“The GP appointment data shows just how hard our colleagues in primary care have been working despite also being blighted with staff absences. Nearly 30 million patient appointments were offered last month, a 4.6m increase in the run up to this Christmas compared to the previous year, and this included offering 4 million COVID jabs.

“As Plan B restrictions lift and as we approach the two-year anniversary of the first confirmed coronavirus infections in the UK, we would do well to remember that this virus has not gone away.  

“There are still thousands of people in hospital with COVID-19 and many thousands more seeking and awaiting treatment for non-COVID related illness and surgery.  It is also concerning to see how fast cases are rising in primary school aged children and that daily infections are plateauing rather than decreasing as people return to working outside the home.”