NHS sets out winter plans

The NHS has set out its plans for the winter with new measures to help speed up discharge for patients and improve care.

The measures include care ‘traffic control’ centres to speed up discharge, additional ambulance hours and extra beds.

It is hoped the new measures will boost capacity and resilience across the NHS as well as building on the recent improvements in ambulance response times and A&E performance.

‘Care traffic control’ centres will provide one stop for staff to locate and co-ordinate the best and quickest discharge options for patients – either at home or into social or community care.

The centres will bring together teams from across NHS, social care, housing, and voluntary services.

Sarah-Jane Marsh, NHS national director of urgent and emergency care, said: “Winter is always a busy time for the NHS and our teams are already under significant pressure – so today, we are launching a plan to further increase resilience across the country.

“Thanks to the hard work that goes on day in day out and the ambitious measures in our urgent and emergency care recovery plan, patients are seeing significant improvements in ambulance and A&E services over recent months.

“Ahead of winter we will not only have more ambulances and beds in place, but we will also be continuing to work more closely as an entire NHS and social care system, increasing the capacity of community services that help keep patients safe at home.

“We will continue to build on this progress and do everything we can to put the NHS on the front foot ahead of what has the potential to be another challenging winter with covid and flu.”

Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS medical director for transformation, said: “The rapid expansion of ‘care traffic control’ centres, means patients can be more easily discharged with the right support when medically fit to leave hospital with the latest information available to staff in one spot – this is both better for patients and for the NHS.

“Boosting the numbers of specialist hubs for patients with respiratory problems means patients can get seen quickly in their local community while also relieving pressure on hospitals.

“So while we know this winter is going to be a difficult one, it is important that the public play their part by using services in the usual way – using 999 in an emergency and primary care or 111 online for other health conditions.”