Britons will die younger and in poorer health because the NHS is not recovering from the pandemic fast enough, a damning report from MPs has warned.
The service is unlikely to meet key recovery targets for routine surgery and cancer treatments despite a significant additional cash injection, the Public Accounts Committee has revealed.
The bipartisan group points to poor workforce planning and says there aren’t enough staff and scanners to quickly fill record waiting lists of 7.2 million people.
The report finds that the first year of NHS England’s three-year recovery scheme is already “underperforming”, with a detrimental effect on people’s quality of life.
Around 7.2 million patients in England were behind in December (red line), around one in eight of the population. More than 400,000 are pending for at least a year (yellow bars)
NHS cancer data for December shows that only six in 10 patients started treatment within two months of an urgent general referral for cancer (red line), leaving 5,381 (blue line) patients waiting more than 62 days for cancer treatment
That’s because bosses made “too optimistic” assumptions, including that there would be low Covid levels and minimal adverse effects from winter pressure, he adds.
The committee has now expressed serious doubts that the wider NHS recovery plan will be delivered on time, describing waiting times for cancer treatment as “particularly worrying”.
Commission leader Dame Meg Hillier, a Labor MP, said: “Despite a significant cash injection aimed at helping the recovery from the pandemic, the NHS is in full-blown crisis and all the statistics are wrong.
“Based on the evidence we have received, the NHS will fall short of the targets of its recovery plan and this means indicators of health, longevity and quality of life will continue to deteriorate for people in this country.
“This is absolutely disgraceful and totally unacceptable in a country as prosperous as ours.”
Commission leader Dame Meg Hillier, a Labor MP, said: “Despite a significant injection of cash to help recover from the pandemic, the NHS is in full-blown crisis and all the statistics are moving in the wrong direction.”
The report says cancer waiting times are the “worst on record” and NHS England will fall short of its original cancer recovery target.
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Here are some examples of the wake language changes that have gripped NHS communications. Some of these examples are taken from national NHS communications, while others are used by individual hospitals
About 85 percent of people who are urgently referred by their GP and diagnosed with cancer must start treatment within 62 days.
But in the first five months of 2022/23, only 62 per cent of patients met that target, with 11 per cent of patients being treated for more than 104 days after an urgent referral – at least twice as long as they were supposed to wait.
Delays reduce survival rates and can make treatment more expensive and less effective.
The NHSE has set a recovery target for the weekly number of patients waiting longer than 62 days to recover to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023.
And in July 2022, the NHS chief executive wrote to all NHS trusts that cancer treatment is a critical priority for the rest of the year.
However, in evidence to the committee at the end of November, NHS England conceded that that original cancer cure target would not be met.
The stimulus plan also stipulated that activity levels would return to pre-pandemic levels in early 2022/23.
But between April and August 2022, elective activity — non-emergency treatment — was just 95 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
It is “self-evident” that the further target of increasing activity to 129 percent of pre-pandemic levels by 2024/2025 is “unachievable,” the report added.
MEPs said that for the recovery plan to succeed, the capacity of adult social care needs to be improved so that people can be discharged from hospital on time.
In addition, there needs to be more clarity on how large the workforce should be and “how long it will take to reach that level through adequate domestic training.”
There are currently 133,000 vacancies in healthcare and NHS England has committed to publishing an NHS workforce plan by April 2023.
The Department of Health has earmarked £14bn specifically for restoring elective and cancer care to NHS England from 2022/23 to 2024/25.
The Autumn 2022 statement promised an extra £3.3bn over 2023/24 and 2024/25 for the NHS budget as a whole and health bosses told the committee this would be enough for the NHS to deliver its key priorities.
However, NHS England has chosen not to produce a detailed budgeted version of its recovery plan to show how all £14 billion will be spent.
Sir Julian Hartley, CEO of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: “Trust leaders are working extremely hard to address the backlog and have made remarkable progress in removing the 78-week waiting period given the increasing pressure they face against April experienced.. faced.
HM Treasury data shows the NHS annual budget. In 2020/21, the NHS received £129.7bn in core funding for its usual services, topped up with an additional £18bn to cope with the pressures of the pandemic. For 2021/22, the Treasury said healthcare received £136.1bn in core funding, plus £3bn to support Covid recovery. Healthcare has been allocated £151.8 billion for 2022/23 and £157.4 billion for 2023/34. The autumn statement added £3.3bn each to those figures
The NHS spends around £150 billion a year, of which just under 43 per cent is spent on staff wages. Graphic shows: A pie chart of Department of Health and Social Care revenue spending for the NHS in 2019/20 (left) and areas where spending is considered wasted (right)
However, a very harsh winter, the impact of industrial action and serious staff shortages are just some of the challenges that threaten to undermine these efforts.
Opening government talks with all striking unions will be key to resolving labor disputes and preventing further strikes.
“The national workforce plan, which must be fully funded by the government, must also be a way to address staff shortages and provide the NHS with the resources it needs.”
Sir James Mackey, National Director of Elective Restoration at NHS England, said: “This press release contains a number of factual errors and unfortunately fails to acknowledge the significant progress that NHS staff have made with the Elective Restoration Plan despite the record pressure throughout. the health care system. and care system.’
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesman said the NHS had ‘already made great progress in tackling the Covid residuals’, adding: ‘We are working to reduce the 62-day cancer residuals – those who it has since dropped 9 percent peaking in 2020 — but we know there’s still more work to do.
“We have opened 92 community diagnostic centers that have carried out more than three million tests, scans and examinations to detect cancer and other diseases as early as possible, and another 19 will be added this year.”
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
