Coronavirus set to compound NHS winter crisis

Professor Ted Baker has warned that patient safety is at risk if the NHS winter crisis is worsened by coronavirus, which he labelled ‘a wake-up call for society as a whole’.

In an interview with The Independent, the Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector of hospitals said that ministers must act now in emergency departments to prevent a catastrophe and that the NHS could not carry on as before as hospitals across the country struggle to return to normal care while the crisis continues.

With NHS waiting lists expected to surge to 10 million later this year, the CQC is concerned about patients being ‘forgotten’ and believes that emergency departments, and the whole system supporting emergency departments, need to start doing ‘things very differently’ to avoid further disruption to services. This includes ‘not using the emergency department as a kind of waiting area for the rest of the hospital’.

The CQC is planning to resume routine inspections of hospitals, care homes and GPs from the autumn but will be adapting its approach in light of the risks from coronavirus.