NHS faces uphill battle to improve flow of patients through hospital amid staff shortages

Responding to a Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) report about Accident and Emergency waiting times, Rory Deighton, acute lead at the NHS Confederation, said:

“These findings reveal just how strained, under-staffed and under-pressure emergency departments have been.

“While the situation has slightly improved thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, the timeliness of care in emergency departments still falls short of what the public should expect.

“The NHS is currently carrying 105,000 staff vacancies and the system remains under real pressure so we urgently need the Government to commit to producing a fully funded NHS workforce plan.

“These staffing gaps combined with severe staff shortages in social care mean the NHS is facing an uphill struggle to resolve long waits and improve the flow of patients through hospitals.”