The National Health Service is under “severe and unrelenting pressure”, with no sign of any respite in the summer months, warns Tim Gardner, a senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation.
Patients are waiting longer for ambulances and to be seen in accident and emergency departments, the latest monthly NHS performance statistics show.
The latest GP patient survey this July highlighted increased dissatisfaction with access to primary healthcare, just as the NHS also faces an ongoing backlash over a proposed pay increase that falls short of inflation.
Healthcare testing service Goodbody Health said that independent testing services such as the ones it offers can help alleviate the ongoing pressures on the NHS.
“We can help ease some of those pressures longer term through our products and services that aid in the prevention of an illness, before any symptoms appear, thus directing patients out of the GP surgeries and hospitals, when necessary,” said chief executive Marc Howells
.“Our health MOT check and blood tests such as the hereditary cancer genetic tests are a step in this direction giving people the ability to start ‘self-caring’ with the longer-term view of creating healthier outcome.”
With the Conservative leadership contest ongoing, the next prime minister will need a coherent plan to address pressures on the NHS.
The GP Patient Survey showed that access to healthcare is increasingly scarce.
Some 47% of patients found it hard to contact their practice on the phone, according to the July survey, up from 32% in 2021 and 35% in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
Fewer patients reported a good experience at their GP practice, just 72% compared with 83% a year ago and 82% in 2020.
“The alarm bell is sounding loudest in emergency care services, where patients are facing long waits for ambulances and in A&E departments.
"In June 2022, over 130,000 patients waited more than 4 hours in A&E for admission to a hospital bed – 22,000 of whom waited more than 12 hours,” said Gardner.
“Chronic workforce shortages, a lack of bed capacity and delays in discharging patients are all causing these pressures."