Commenting on the release today (25 October) of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report Access to urgent and emergency care, Dr Vicky Price, president-elect of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “We share the concerns raised today by the Public Accounts Committee and fully support the call for action from NHS leaders and the Department of Health and Social Care.
“For far too long now there has been an acceptance and almost normalisation of poor urgent and emergency care and heading into winter that is of deep concern.
“There is now an expectation that we are heading for even more extremely troubled times in the NHS, though mitigation is still possible.
“This includes resolving industrial action, a stronger commitment to funding the workforce plan and a significant emergency package to support social care.
“However, the window of opportunity to do so is getting increasingly narrow.”