Winter pressures in NHS are 'becoming year-round norm'

摘要

Pressures on NHS hospitals traditionally associated with the winter months may be becoming the new norm for hospitals all year round in England, says a health think-tank. A study by the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation think-tanks has found that long waits at A&E departments and slower ambulance response times have become increasingly common in the summer months. In summer 2015, it found that there were more trolley waits -defined as a delay of between four and 12 hours between an A&E doctor's decision to admit a patient and finding the patient a bed - than in any of the four winters prior to 2014/15.