NHS England already under as much pressure as in winter, says boss

NHS England already under as much pressure as in winter, says boss Frontline NHS services are already under as much pressure as they usually face in the winter, due to lack of staff and hospitals’ inability to discharge patients, the health service’s boss said on Wednesday.

In a speech to senior health service managers, NHS England’s chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, admitted that cuts to the number of beds had gone too far. But she blamed difficulties in social care for hospitals being left unable to admit the growing number of seriously ill people needing care urgently and patients being left stranded in the back of ambulances outside A&E units. The Guardian

See also:

• Hospital waiting list 6.5 million in England BBC News
• Ambulance waits: 'Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead' BBC News
• NHS waiting list shoots to ANOTHER record high as crisis leaves 6.5MILLION patients stuck in queue The Daily Mail
• How badly is the NHS crisis affecting your hospital? The Daily Mail
• Almost 100,000 facing excessive wait for serious cardiac care in England  The Guardian
• The Guardian view on ambulance waiting times: signs of a collapsing NHS | Editorial The Guardian