It has been reported by the BBC this week that the NHS has “insufficient” critical care capacity, which has been laid bare by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to NHS Providers, a group representing Trusts in England, the UK has one of the lowest numbers of beds per head in Europe, and they are now calling for a review of the NHS’s capacity.
NHS Providers were reported to say:
“It’s neither safe nor sensible to rely on NHS hospital trusts being able to double or triple their capacity at the drop of a hat as they’ve had to over the last two months, with all the disruption to other care and impossible burdens on staff that involves.”
The statistics show that the UK has 7.3 critical care beds per 100,000 people. Compare this to Germany’s 33.8 critical care beds per 100,000 and the comparison is stark.
The lack of critical care beds shows there has been insufficient investment in critical care services for quite some time and the UK has fewer hospital beds for those most seriously ill patients. As we’ve been dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and the inevitable drain on critical care this has created, it has served to highlight the insufficiencies in capacity at a time when we need it most.
A spokesperson for Department of Health and Social Care said:
“The government is determined to back the NHS in every possible way in its fight against this virus, investing £52billion this year and £20billion next year.”
Comment
Clearly the pressures of the last year have been unlike anything we have seen before, but it is vital that note is taken of the spotlight now being shone on the inadequacies in investment into the NHS so that positive changes can be made not only to allow the NHS to cope in times of crisis, but also to keep patients safe and cared for at all times.
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Danielle Young is Senior Associate in our highly regarded Medical Negligence team.
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