Commenting ahead of the upcoming Budget, Dr Tim Cooksley, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said (25 October): “We need to get a position where capacity is able to meet demand and that will only be possible through tackling the workforce and estates issues that currently exist and are impeding the ability to deliver safe, effective and high quality care.
“In the immediate period, there needs to be urgent social care investment to facilitate discharge of those stranded in hospitals as this will be a determining factor in how badly the winter will affect frontline services.
“The government has to understand that the damage has been so significant that we firstly need to be able to provide basic care, then move towards high quality acute care. That vision is currently a long way off given the new normal of significant delays and corridor care.
“Longer term there must be a budget plan to match other long term plans as, without the investment and people in place, the challenges of the future cannot be met.”