The report from the CQC released in October 2022, is that the health and care system is in gridlock and this is having a huge negative impact on people’s experiences of care.
There is an increase in potential harm to patients needing urgent care due to long delays in ambulance response times, waiting in ambulances outside hospitals and long waiting times for triage in emergency departments.
Large numbers of people are stuck in hospital longer than they need to be, due to a lack of available social care . And people’s inability to access primary care services is exacerbating the high pressure on urgent and emergency care services.
At the heart of these problems are staff shortages and struggles to recruit and retain staff right across health and care.
The CQC discussed the following:
- People are struggling to access care – thousands of people are on waiting lists for care and people with mental health issues struggle to access care
- Inequalities pervade and persist
- The workforce is severely depleted – across all health and social care services, providers are struggling desperately to recruit and retain staff with the right skills and in the right numbers to meet the increasing needs of people in their care.
This year, integrated care systems (ICSs) were formally established and the role of integrated care boards set out in legislation. This will bring with it a new role for CQC to review and assess each ICS, starting next year.
In this report the CQC looked in-depth at higher risk providers and where people were most at risk of receiving poor care. It has deep concerns about some types of care, in particular maternity care, for people with a learning disability and autistic people, and mental health services.
The full report from the CQC can be found here