NHS bosses fear they won’t cope with ‘most difficult winter in history’

NHS bosses fear the system won’t cope with the ‘most difficult winter in history’ amid staff shortages and a loss of beds following the pandemic, a new report has said.

Hospital executives have also called for “emergency action” from the government to stop social care staff leaving, following concern mandatory vaccines will drive workers into retail jobs.

Out of nearly 200 NHS leaders more than 80 per cent said they are worried there has been “insufficient” funding for social care amid concern shortages in the care sector will make it more difficult to discharge NHS patients.

NHS Providers – which represents all trusts in England and carried out a poll of leaders – urged the government to offer bonuses of up to £500 to social care staff to stop them leaving for Christmas jobs in other sectors.

Last week The Independent revealed care home providers have been forced to refuse NHS discharges amid staffing shortages driven by changes to the law which make it mandatory for care staff to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “The message from trust leaders is loud and clear: judging by the pressure the NHS is currently under, the service is heading for the most difficult winter in its history.

“The current Covid caseload is considerably lower than the peak at the start of the year, but when we consistently run our health and care system at the limit of its capacity, it doesn’t take much extra pressure to increase risk to patient safety and quality of care.”

He said the loss of NHS beds due to Covid, health and care staff shortages, resources needed for vaccination campaigns “are all combining to bring major, additional, pressures.”

On Sunday The Independent revealed 160,000 patients had come to harm due to delays in ambulance response times during the last year.

One trust leader from the South West was quoted in the NHS Providers report saying: “We are experiencing an unprecedented demand in the urgent and emergency care pathway. This is not sustainable with the current staffing model.

“A revised staffing model is not achievable in the current funding model.”

More than half of hospital leaders, 52 per cent, said they were worried getting support from national NHS bodies and the Department for Health and Social Care, for pressures in their local area.

Key findings from the NHS Providers survey were:

– eighty-four per cent of trust leaders were very worried or worried about their trusts having the capacity to meet demand for services

– More than two thirds were worried over whether they had enough staff to deliver high quality care to patients

– Almost all leaders were concerned over levels of burnout within their workforce.

The news comes after the Royal College of Nursing warned patient safety was in danger the NHS runs the risk of being engulfed by pressures.

Director for England from the RCN, Patricia Marquis, said in a statement: “Speak to any nurse and they will tell you just how concerned they are for their patients as well as their colleagues.

“They have known for a long time just how the pressures have been growing and they can see the risk to patient care every single day in every part of health and care.

“This was coming long before the pandemic and is a direct consequence of a long-term failure to invest in the nursing workforce.”

On Tuesday the Royal College of Physicians also revealed the NHS has recorded highest number of vacancies for medics since 2013, warning 48 per cent of medical consultant posts across the UK had not been filled because there were no applicants.

Dr Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “We’re being hit by a perfect storm of high demand for services and not enough staff. This can’t go on. The fact that so many posts were unfilled because there were no applicants shows the supply of doctors falls woefully short of demand.

“We need a clear commitment from government to publish regular workforce projections so that we know how many staff to train to meet future demand.”