Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: A queue of ambulances are seen outside the Royal London Hospital emergency department on November 24, 2022 in London, England. Over the past week, nearly three in 10 ambulances were caught queuing outside hospitals in England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
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An ‘urgent and emergency’ care plan is to be unveiled on Monday to address the serious pressures facing the NHS.
It comes as Health Secretary Steve Barclay admits there is ‘no quick fix’ to address the situation.
Tens of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people are to receive tailored support at home each month as the Government grapples to help stretched NHS services.
Mr Barclay has vowed the new plan will help ease pressure on stretched A&E services at hospitals.
He said: ‘The health and care service is facing significant pressures and while there is no quick fix, we can take immediate action to reduce long waits for urgent and emergency care.
‘By expanding the care provided in the community, the most vulnerable, frail and elderly patients can be better supported to continue living independently or recover at home.
‘This includes rolling out more services to help with falls and frailty as well as supporting up to 50,000 patients a month to recover in the comfort of their own homes.
‘Not only will patients benefit from better experiences and outcomes, it will ease pressure on our busy emergency departments.’
Caption: Health Secretary Steve Barclay during a visit to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, as nurses at other hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take industrial action over pay. Picture date: Thursday December 15, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story INDUSTRY Strikes. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
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Caption: COVENTRY, ENGLAND – MAY 25: Paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service medical staff transport an elderly woman to be returned back to her nursing home on May 25, 2020 in Coventry, United Kingdom. Because of the COVID-19, West Midlands Ambulance Services become extremely busy. The United Kingdom has suffered one Europe’s highest death rates from COVID-19. (Photo by Lynsey Addario/Getty Images)
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His comments come amid a strategy to shift some NHS care out of hard-pressed hospitals.
Under the new plans, urgent community response teams will be scaled up, with hopes that it will increase the number of referrals and patients seen by healthcare staff within two hours.
Officials said that the plan would standardise and scale up current services to treat falls and frailty, with more services in place for next winter.
The Government said that the plan builds on the virtual wards already in place in the NHS, which see patients treated from home while monitored by medics either through daily visits or through video calls.
Caption: Handout photo of people taking part in a rally in Leeds organised by Keep Our NHS Public to show solidarity with NHS workers fighting for better pay and conditions. Picture date: Saturday January 28, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story INDUSTRY Strikes Protests. Photo credit should read: Dr John Puntis/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
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Caption: An ambulance worker placing a sign on the side of an stationery ambulance, outside London Ambulance Service NHS Trust control room in Waterloo, London. Thousands of members of Unison, Unite and the GMB unions are set to walk out across England and Wales on Monday as part of continued industrial action in the health service. Picture date: Monday January 23, 2023. PA Photo. Up to 15,000 Unison ambulance workers will strike for the third time in five weeks and will be joined by 5,000 of their NHS colleagues at two hospital trusts in Liverpool. See PA story INDUSTRY Strikes Ambulances. Photo credit should read: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire
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About 3,000 virtual beds are due to be created before next winter, with the plan set to suggest that about 50,000 people a month could be cared for from home under ministers’ ambitions.
The Government’s new plan comes amid multiple reports that hospitals are struggling to cope amid severe pressures on staff, with walk-outs by nurses set to continue as a dispute over pay and conditions continues.
Latest data shows that ambulance handover delays outside hospitals in England have dropped to their lowest level this winter.
But one in five patients are still waiting at least half an hour to be transferred to A&E teams.
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 30: Chief Executive of NHS England Amanda Pritchard speaks during a news conference at the Downing Street Briefing Room on November 30, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Tom Nicholson-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
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Caption: BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 07: Staff work in the busy Accident and Emergency department of the recently opened Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital attends a work station on February 7, 2011 in Birmingham, England. The new Queen Elizabeth Hospital accommodates 1,213 beds and 30 operating theatres. The super hospital has a 100-bed intensive care unit – the largest in Europe – and the largest single floor critical care unit in the world. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said that the health service had recently battled against a ‘twindemic’ of flu and Covid-19.
She said: ‘Our extensive planning ahead of winter has helped to boost capacity – from extra 111 and 999 call handlers, to new falls services and more beds – and we now aim to build on that progress to help speed up care and improve the experiences of patients.’
The Government pointed to £14.1 billion available for health and care services over the next two years, as announced in the autumn statement.
James Jamieson, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: ‘We are pleased to see the focus on expanding community health and care services and the recognition of the importance of therapy and recovery support to get people back home following discharge.
‘Collaboration and a focus on outcomes will be key to successful delivery of the plan.’
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The Health Secretary has admitted that there is ‘no quick fix; to the serious pressures facing the NHS.
