Waiting times for many NHS urgent and emergency services in England were at their worst in 2016/17 for the last five years, but there is so far little evidence that the quality of care for some of the big killers – like heart attack, stroke and cancer – is deteriorating.
This is the main message from the second pre-election briefing from the Health Foundation, Quality of care in the English NHS: In the balance.
However, the Health Foundation highlights that national data on the quality of care received by NHS patients lags behind information on waiting times and it may be too early to tell whether the pressures on the NHS are affecting the quality of care delivered.
Despite the increase in waiting times, the NHS is treating more patients than ever before. The number of people being treated within waiting times targets has remained relatively stable over the last five years and the difficulty to meet the targets reflects continuing growth in demand and pressure on resources.
Tim Gardner, senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “More people waited longer to access important areas of NHS care in 2016/17 – for things like admission to hospital from A&E, non-urgent surgery and cancer treatment – than at any time in the last five years.
“However, at the same time, the NHS is treating more people than ever before, including more people within the target waiting times.
“Crucially, for big killers like stroke, heart attack and some cancers, the latest data shows that the quality of care being delivered by the NHS is holding. This may be because it is too early to tell whether the pressures on the NHS are affecting the quality of care delivered. Or it may be a reflection of the incredible hard work of NHS staff to ensure good quality of care is maintained despite tightening resources.
“But international comparisons also show that while there have been internationally recognised improvements in the quality of care for heart attack and stroke – for other illnesses, such as bowel and breast cancer, the NHS is still lagging behind comparable countries on patient outcomes.
“Maintaining, let alone improving, the quality of care provided is going to be very difficult in the current financial climate. Funding for the NHS in England will need to increase if these hard won gains to the quality of patient care are to be upheld and built upon in the future. Waiting time targets for A&E, cancer, and consultant-led treatment are a useful barometer of pressure on the NHS. But these data need to be published alongside more relevant and accessible data on how effective care is for patients.”
