NHS winter pressures: how well prepared is the NHS in England?

NHS winter pressures: how well prepared is the NHS in England? Hospitals’ attempts to cope in winter symbolise the wider problems facing the NHS and social care. Winter pressures shine a particularly harsh spotlight on the gap between rising demand and stagnating budgets. Last winter hospitals struggled, even without a flu outbreak or a prolonged cold spell. Headlines shouted of overflowing emergency departments, with ‘black alerts’ in some hospitals leading to diverted ambulances, cancelled operations and patients waiting on trolleys for hospital beds.

Planning for this winter began in the summer. NHS England and NHS Improvement proposed action in four interlinked areas to prepare as well as possible for the winter. In a series of four blogs, we will explore these plans and compare the NHS and social care system’s current winter preparedness with that of 2016. The Health Foundation