Health secretary’s NHS elective recovery announcement ‘fails to address key issues’ – SAM past president

Commenting on today’s NHS elective recovery plan announcement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Dr Susan Crossland, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said:  “While we support developing plans to help reduce the backlog of patients waiting for NHS care, the announcement today from the health secretary is…

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‘Essential virtual wards are appropriately planned, resourced and staffed’ – SAM president

Commenting on the development of virtual wards and the need for careful implementation (reported today 07 January by the Health Service Journal), Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “Urgent and emergency care services remain under huge pressure with concerns regarding overcrowding, delays in patient care and exhausted staff with increasing…

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‘Questions over how proposed ways out of current chaos can be delivered’ says SAM past president

Commenting today (03 January) on staff sickness rates, Covid admissions and increasing pressure across the NHS, Dr Nick Scriven, past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “I think we are beginning to see concerns moving from “Covid admissions swamping the service” to “the service risks being decimated” but through it all we cannot…

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‘NHS functioning on life support only’ says SAM president

Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, provides an update on current NHS pressures and the impact on acute care (28 December): “As hopefully many enjoy a festive period, each component of the NHS and social care is under increasing strain with limited capacity to absorb any further surges in a hugely pressured winter.  “The system…

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NHS pressures ‘far worse than this time last year’ says SAM president

Following the release today (09 December) of the latest NHS performance data which shows last month was one of the busiest on record, with waiting times for hospital treatment and admission from emergency departments hitting record highs across England, Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “The current feeling in Acute…

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