Follow us on twitter: @csjmagazine
NEWS
Starting position for NHS risks leaving UK trailing behind in COVID recovery
The NHS is at risk of a slower and more fraught path to recovery than most comparable international systems due to its starting position going into the Coronavirus pandemic and the severity of our outbreak, according to a study by the Nuffield Trust think tank.
The analysis compares measures taken by the NHS in England against health systems in 31 countries in response to COVID-19 and examines the starting position of those countries’ health systems in terms of staffing, hospital beds and money for equipment and buildings. The comparator countries include Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain and the United States. Resuming health services during the
COVID-19 pandemic: What can the NHS learn from other countries? finds that many of the tactics taken by the NHS in England to reshape services, build extra hospital capacity, bring back recently retired staff and strike deals with the private sector have been mirrored in other countries. Every country in the study cancelled or delayed non-urgent or elective procedures to free up more capacity for COVID-19 patients and a majority created designated COVID-19 hospitals or treatment centres.
Despite the hard work of NHS staff, the UK as a whole went into the pandemic with fewer doctors, nurses and hospital beds per person, lower levels of spending on buildings and equipment, and higher levels of hospital bed occupancy. In combination with the UK’s more severe outbreak, this means the NHS may face a tougher recovery than health systems across the countries analysed. Key findings relating to health system capacity include: l The UK’s NHS ranks in the bottom third of 31 comparable countries when it comes
to four of the six measures of healthcare capacity: capital spending, doctors per person, hospital beds per person and acute bed occupancy.
l Low bed numbers and high occupancy rates within the NHS mean it has had less flexibility than other health systems to deal with the immediate surge of demand. Germany had over three times the hospital beds and nearly twice as many nurses per person than the UK.
l While the UK ranks among the average for waiting times of the health systems analysed, its position is likely to deteriorate given that many parts of the NHS are working with outdated buildings and chronic workforce shortages. Even with the Government funding announcement of an additional £3bn to help expand elective
capacity over winter, this is unlikely to be sufficient to address service backlogs.
l Outdated NHS buildings and properties will mean that reconfiguring facilities to support social distancing measures or COVID-free zones will be more difficult.
However, the report adds that there is now an opportunity to learn from and sustain positive changes the service has made in response to the outbreak and for Government to work across sectors to redress the inequalities that threaten system recovery and sustainability. Other factors, like infrastructure to test, track and trace cases and access to PPE will also play a role, as well as how effectively systems are able to make decisions and coordinate action across different sectors and levels of government.
The Haemostat Absorbing Your Cost Pressures Oxidised Cellulose Haemostat
• Faster Haemostasis • Faster Absorption • Easier to Position • Huge Savings to be made
info@uniplexuk.com
www.uniplexuk.com 0114 241 3410
SEPTEMBER 2020
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM l 9
©Rick Lohre -
stock.adobe.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
