Long wait ahead for return to normal in NHS care

HEALTH LEADERS have warned that it will take months before the NHS is able to fully restart services in the face of Covid-19.

Experts from the Health Foundation, the King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust will tell MPs today of the significant challenges facing the health service as it tries to create a “new normal”.

The warning comes as NHS waiting list data is due to be published that is expected to show the number of people waiting for treatment has soared during the pandemic. The waiting list for planned treatment stood at about 4.4m before the coronavirus outbreak, but is now expected to be much higher.

A separate report from NHS Providers, which represents NHS organisations, warns there are challenges to ramping up care for people with non-Covid conditions while still caring for Covid patients.

In a joint submission to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, the Health Foundation, the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust said the Government and health and care leaders should not underestimate the virus’s impact on already exhausted staff.

They warned that an information campaign will be needed to urge the public to overcome their fears and start using the NHS again, while preparations must also be made for a possible second peak of Covid-19 alongside the usual winter pressures such as seasonal flu.

The organisations also said more personal protective equipment (PPE) will be needed as non-Covid services resume, more space must be allocated so patients and staff can socially distance, and there is a need for greater levels of testing.

These factors, together with the extra time needed for cleaning equipment and facilities, will “severely limit capacity for many months until the infection has been brought under control in the community,” they said.

The groups warned the pandemic has exposed “pre-existing weaknesses”, most obviously a long-term under-investment in health and care services and a “precarious” social care system.

These issues “will still need to be tackled alongside the backlog of demand,” they said.