Commenting on the King’s Fund analysis of A&E waiting times, Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said:
This is no surprise – as the RCP identified in last year’s call for action Hospitals on The Edge?, patients are presenting at emergency departments in increasing numbers because there is nowhere else they can go. Patients arriving at the ‘front door’ of the hospital have an impact on acute services throughout the hospital, and we need to redesign emergency care systems around the patient while making sure that clinicians’ workloads and working practices are safe and sustainable.
Our Future Hospital Commission has been set up to review all aspects of the design and delivery of inpatient hospital care and is due to report later in the year.
For further information, please contact Linda Cuthbertson, head of PR, on +44 (0)203 075 1254 / 0774 877 7919, or email Linda.Cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk