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13/09/2012
Hospitals On 'Brink Of Collapse' Warn Doctors
Doctors have warned that England’s hospitals could be on the brink of collapse because of rising demand and the increasing complexity of patients' conditions.
A new Royal College of Physicians' report said that bed numbers had been cut by a third over the past 25 years.
At the same time emergency admissions had started rising and hospitals were seeing older patients with a wider variety of conditions
This process has resulted in urgent care being compromised, the college said.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) also added that standards were slipping in hospitals throughout England.
It cited how older patients were repeatedly moved around wards, the lack of continuity of care while in hospital and tests being done during the night as some of the examples of how care was suffering.
Prof Tim Evans, of the RCP, said: "This evidence is very distressing. All hospital patients deserve to receive safe, high-quality sustainable care centred around their needs.
"Yet it is increasingly clear that our hospitals are struggling to cope with the challenge of an ageing population who increasingly present to our hospitals with multiple, complex diseases.
"We must act now to make the drastic changes required to provide the care they deserve."
(H)
A new Royal College of Physicians' report said that bed numbers had been cut by a third over the past 25 years.
At the same time emergency admissions had started rising and hospitals were seeing older patients with a wider variety of conditions
This process has resulted in urgent care being compromised, the college said.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) also added that standards were slipping in hospitals throughout England.
It cited how older patients were repeatedly moved around wards, the lack of continuity of care while in hospital and tests being done during the night as some of the examples of how care was suffering.
Prof Tim Evans, of the RCP, said: "This evidence is very distressing. All hospital patients deserve to receive safe, high-quality sustainable care centred around their needs.
"Yet it is increasingly clear that our hospitals are struggling to cope with the challenge of an ageing population who increasingly present to our hospitals with multiple, complex diseases.
"We must act now to make the drastic changes required to provide the care they deserve."
(H)
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A bed shortage at hospitals in north Cumbria has led the NHS Trust to declare a "major incident". All non-emergency operations at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital have been cancelled until Friday, when the situation will be reviewed. All emergency patients are being diverted to other hospitals.
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