Commenting on the release today (28 April) of the Health Foundation’s report Did the NHS experience record pressures this winter?, which found the NHS “performed far worse than before the pandemic”, Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “This report sends a loud and clear message about the issues in urgent and emergency care which we and many others have been raising consistently over the past year – and many years prior.
“The number of 12-hour delays in emergency departments is a national scandal and there is currently stasis in the NHS which will only deepen further while discussions continue around the merger of NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
“It is apparent that there has been a continued failure of multiple governments to focus on acute care, and to ensure the delivery and implementation of an effective urgent and emergency care recovery plan that has the support of those on the frontline.
“We call again for urgent action, including the release of much-awaited plans for urgent and emergency care and the long-awaited NHS 10-year plan.”