Hospitals warned of emergency treatment rebound

Hospitals have been warned they could face a ‘rebound’ of thousands of patients needing emergency treatment after weeks of delayed care and patients avoiding hospitals.

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens hinted in a letter to hospital managers that the NHS may need to extend its contract with private hospitals beyond June in order to ensure it can meet demand over the summer months. He also instructed hospitals to keep extra emergency beds and staffing ready to respond to any increase in non-coronavirus patients.

The letter, which sets out the next phase for the health service after the initial surge of coronavirus patients, also said hospitals should aim to restart services amid concerns many patients have avoided seeking help – even for urgent conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

There had been a 37 per cent drop in emergency hospital admissions last week compared to the same week in 2019.

Stevens said: “There is therefore considerable uncertainty as to the timing and extent of the likely rebound in emergency demand. To the extent it happens, non-elective [emergency] patients will potentially reoccupy tens of thousands of hospital beds which have not had to be used for that purpose over the past month or so.”