NHS faces ‘backlog’ in wake of Covid crisis
IT WILL be months before the NHS is able to fully restart services in the face of Covid-19, health leaders have warned.
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”.
It comes as NHS waiting list data is due to be published which is expected to show the number of people waiting for treatment has swollen during the pandemic.
The waiting list for planned treatment stood at around 4.4 million before the 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 leaders should not underestimate the pandemic’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, and more space must be allocated so patients and staff can socially distance.
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 that 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 back log of demand ,” they said.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive of Nuffield Trust, said: “With the virus still at large, there is no easy route back to the way things were before in the NHS, and unfortunately that means people waiting much longer and some services being put on hold.”
The report from NHS Providers echoes some of these calls, saying there is a huge task in restarting NHS services while managing the threat from coronavirus.
It warns of backlogs, increased demand for mental health services due to the effects of Covid-19, and the need to care for NHS staff who have experienced highly pressured circumstances.
New challenges include a lack of PPE and testing, shortages of key drugs and equipment, including anaesthetic drugs and kidney dialysis machines, and the need for staff to take leave they have deferred.
“Given the scale of these challenges and constraints, it is already clear that NHS trusts will be unable to deliver all that is expected,” the report warned.