As winter approaches, with the days growing shorter, the warnings from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine are growing more frequent and anxious.
Responding to the Labour government’s first Budget Dr Ian Higginson, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:
“We commend the government’s ambition to start rebuilding the NHS which has been clear from the Darzi Review, the national public consultation, and willingness to invest in health and social care in today’s budget.
“The commitment to increase the number of beds in the system is welcome, although we need to see the detail and time frames as we know at least 10,000 beds are needed now to improve patient safety and reduce long waits in our departments. We’ve also got to remember that buildings don’t just appear, whilst equipment and beds need staff.
“Additionally, it must be ensured that while the health service is bolstered, social care is not left behind. We cannot fix one without fixing the other.
“While today’s budget offers a range of investment plans, from our perspective the elephant in the room is that there was absolutely nothing aimed at mitigating the looming winter crisis we are facing in our EDs, and no discernible direction of travel for what will happen in future winters.”
Full article in The Lowdown, 5 November 2024