‘NHS in permanent state of decline’ – SAM president (13 March)

Commenting on the release today (13 March) of the latest NHS performance data and the announcement of the decision to abolish NHS England, Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “The NHS is in a permanent state of decline heading towards complete stasis.

“The dire state of affairs we face is evident again in the latest performance data, with almost 48,000 patients waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments.

“At a time of utter chaos in urgent and emergency care we have today seen the government announce a major decision to scrap NHS England, which makes the need for clarity around what action will be taken to tackle the root causes of a broken NHS even more essential.

“The long-term silence around the lack of capacity, workforce shortages and a social care system in crisis has been deafening and unacceptable – and patients and staff will continue to suffer the consequences until this is adequately recognised and addressed.

“Anything other than to be completely frank with the public that this is the case – and that there will be imminent action – will continue to breed concern among patients and harm the morale of an already beleaguered workforce.”