winter is coming and there's no bed in hospital that can resist it

The Nuffield Trust is looking closely at some of the big issues behind pressure on the NHS in winter months. Prof John Appleby Director of Research and Chief Economist presents some solutions:

• For some hospitals, the answer is simple: providing more beds and more staff will help them weather the storm through winter.
• For most others, recording bed occupancy in real time rather than taking a snapshot each day will help them to better coordinate the flow of patients.
• And for virtually all, reducing delays once patients are medically fit to leave hospital is essential.

Recent articles to look forward by Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation in relation to winter pressures:

1) Winter bed pressures (2016)
2) How to help health care flow to winter pressures (different materials) 

and the Report of the Health Committee appointed by the House of Commons to examine the policy, administration and expenditure of the Department of Health and its associated bodies

3) 3rd Report - Winter pressure in accident and emergency department (2016)

Photo: Aaron Harris / Reuters (2014)
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