Our view

The data this week continues to highlight the extent of the pressures being felt across NHS services. Demand for urgent and emergency care remains a cause of concern as the numbers of patients arriving in hospital by ambulance remains higher than this time last year. Furthermore, despite seeing improvements in December, the total number of hours lost to ambulance handover delays in February also remains considerably higher than levels observed last year.

Patient flow also remains a significant challenge for systems, as over half of patients (55.8%), who were medically fit to be discharged remained in hospital. This equates to almost 14,000 beds being taken up every day by patients who are fit to leave but cannot. Trust leaders tell us that the reasons driving delayed discharges are multifaceted. However, they are, in part, due to the increased complexity of patients they are treating, alongside ongoing capacity pressures in social care.

General and acute bed occupancy also remains high at 94% despite the addition of more beds since last year. Encouragingly, the data show another fall in paediatric intensive care unit bed occupancy compared to last week, while patients staying in hospital for longer than seven and 14 days has fallen. However, with high levels of ambulance callouts, high bed occupancy and persistent winter viruses, winter pressures do not yet appear to be easing overall.

With further industrial action set to take place this week, it is important that the government and unions work together to find a resolution so staff can continue to work towards tackling the care waiting lists and providing patients with high quality care.