05.06.13
FTN calls for better primary care to relieve A&E pressure
Pressure on A&E is expected to increase over the winter, the Foundation Trust Network has warned.
A new report shows that 72% of trusts believe the emergency services are at a tipping point, due to higher demand, more seriously ill patients and failing primary and social care services.
Until primary care can operate 24/7, “little will or can change”, the report notes. Trusts also reported that discussions with commissions are taking a long time to translate into change, and expressed frustration with the lack of incentives for commissioners to fund new and different care models.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of the FTN, said: “In the short term, we need urgent action to ensure that the A&E system is able to function effectively this coming winter. While we welcome the recent focus on developing local plans, these must be fully supported financially, drawing on funding from NHS England’s commissioning risk pool, with funding levels agreed by the end of June 2013. We must also create the right funding mechanism to support NHS providers, rather than penalise them. The 30% marginal tariff in A&E (for attendances over trusts’ 2008-9 level) is fundamentally flawed, and must be replaced as soon as possible.
“It is equally important that any short-term actions to stabilise the system should be consistent with the longer-term changes needed to address this complex issue, which covers the whole health and social care system.
“Our members told us that on average, 25% of patients turning up to emergency departments could and should be treated elsewhere in the system. The wider NHS urgent and emergency care pathway is not working effectively. We need a longer-term, system-wide approach to tackle these issues. This requires fundamental redesign of the whole pathway, including appropriate investment in primary, community and social care services and much better patient signposting to these services.”
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