Preventing a recurrence of this winter’s crisis

Preventing a recurrence of this winter’s crisis The pressures engulfing the NHS this winter were not only predictable, they were predicted. Quarterly surveys of NHS performance carried out by The King’s Fund since April 2011 have reported growing financial challenges, increasing difficulties in achieving key standards such as a maximum wait of four hours in A&E departments for 95 per cent of patients, and rising pessimism among NHS leaders about the prospects for their own organisations and the systems of which they are a part. Declining performance is a consequence of rising demand for care from a growing and ageing population at a time of constrained resources. The King's Fund